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BOAH4 series
Date: 28 February 2007, 11:56 am

Within the Truth and Reconciliation

"Supreme commander," a covenant elite mentioned,
standing near the access doors. Orreius stood before a holo panel, observed the giant view screen some paces away. Covenant cruisers dispersed, the giant ring shimmering in the blackness of space. The 'S'commander kept silent a while before he said, "You may speak"

"The humans have managed to board one of our cruisers. The truth and reconciliation."
"The ship that holds the human captain?" the 'S'commander asked.
"Yes, Supreme commander."

"Hmm" he turned around. "How daring...so they are bold enough to attempt a rescue. And the demon, is he with this troop?"
"Yes, Supreme commander. And our crew of the truth and reconciliation confirm that two Lekgolos are already eliminated by his hand."

'S'commander Orreius scoffed. He now spoke with that tone equivalent with him loosing his temper. He stretched a hand toward the screen. "Look, what do I have out there? The entire daunting fleet of particular justice. Tell me beloved Iron heart; do I have to send every single vessel down upon the sacred ring?"
"No, Supreme commander"

"No? Then tell me why such information as this should be brought to me." He turned about again, shook his head while he strode toward the screen. "This is an unacceptable level of incompetence. I want you to leave now, and tell commander Kaziska that if he does not handle situations rightly, I personally will stuff a plasma grenade down his throat if ever I am compelled to leave my station."

"Yes, supreme commander." The elite whirled to make away. "Wait!" the 'S'commander ordered. "The ship is to make for orbit immediately...with the demon still onboard. At least that will not be too hard a thing for Kaziska to perform."
"As you command, Supreme commander." The doors shifted close at his departing footsteps.


Master chief tumbled into the corridor, plasma rifle still searing in his grip. "Are you sure you are okay chief?" repeated Cortana's piping tone within his head. "I'm alright," said the chief as calmly as he always would, but the strain in his voice could not be denied this time around. He dragged himself to sit, leaned against the bulkhead. Inside of the Mark five suit felt like it was on fire.

That plasma grenade almost tore him to pieces, though it did just that to the two covenant elite guards. "Just need a while to recharge," he said.
"Um, in my opinion chief that's one 'while' we don't happen to have. More guards are headed this way."

The chief blew a weak grunt, lifted to his feet. "How far are we from the detention chambers?"
"About two floors away. Sergeant Brad and the others are currently one floor below our position. Coming through the north rout we can converge with them at the cross section just behind the last door on the opposite side of this corridor. We could do with any form of re-enforcements right now."

Master chief turned briskly at the shifting sound of the floor access door behind him, pointed his plasma rifle in the same motion. That weapon had come in handy so far, after he lost his battle-rifle in a frightful battle against the vicious covenant hunters.

A pull of the trigger confirmed exhausted batteries. Two furious elites emerged. Master chief was quick to throw himself behind a com-device just to the right. Lying almost at every corner, he wondered of what use those strange structures served in this covenant ship; for him it had been serving for good cover so far. One positive thing for now was that his shields were coming up and the inside of the suit was beginning to cool.

But did they notice his useless weapon? If they did, things just got really ugly. He couldn't sprint the full length of this passage to the next door without getting fried. To the right was the un-girded space: a long fall back to where this climb had begun. A fall also high enough to crush the very human bones that hid within that mark five suit.

To his left was the oddly purple stretch of bulkhead. "We have to act fast Chief," said Cortana. Spits of plasma fire flashed past his shoulders next. Then nothing...He wondered...hesitated, and then tried to catch a glimpse of what the aliens were about. More plasma shots almost met his visor as he quickly withdrew.

The door on the far end before him abruptly hissed open and more covenant emptied into the large square shaped area. "Oh my, chief, they're trying to corner us"
"We have you cornered demon!" bellowed one of them who just entered. The chief was an open target for them, but they had not fired. "Commander Kaziska will take you alive," The covenant continued, gesturing for two jackals to proceed toward the chief. "Only if you heed such instructions as will be given you now."

The Jackals shields were activated with a loud sizzle, to protect them in their overly tentative advance. The elite that spoke seemed to be of higher rank than the other two who flanked him, as well as the two who remained behind the chief. "You will gently stretch out your hands demon! But first I will need for you to lay down every weapon such as you currently posses!"

Master chief looking directly at the approaching jackals tapped against the covenant com-device with his fingers and asked, "How much do you think this thing weighs Cortana?"
"What...you mean the-Ah, you can heft it chief, if that's what you're thinking." The approach of the jackals got more gingerly with their getting closer. The chief suddenly threw the plasma rifle in the air and in that same instance when it forced their attention; he whirled, picked up the com-device.

It served for mobile cover as he ran back toward the other two. Their plasma rifle bolts fizzled and sputtered against the hard surface.

The doors opened once again to receive one of the elites in his backward flight. Spartan 117 had launched the structure at them, and the other dived aside to escape the missile. Master chief received minor blasts against his back from the other group, flung himself in motion to slide forward on both knees.

He now deftly caught two spinning plasma rifles in the air, which had belonged to his victim of the com-device attack. He released bolts of his new weapons to fry the face of the acrobatic covenant who was still at point of getting up.

Spartan 117 rolled sideways and into the door, in avoidance of the rain of assault that issued from behind. The barrage fizzled and ricocheted off the door as it slid shut. Facing the closed door, he lifted himself to balance on one knee, weapons clutched tightly and hanging near his visor.

"Wow Chief, now that was some applaudable choreography," Cortana said.
"Thanks."

A moan that sounded more of a rumble suddenly noised behind. Master chief tendered some no-look blasts in that direction for it to fade into a monstrous gurgle. It was the knocked out elite who tried to recover. And the chief just saw to it that there would be no future recoveries. Cortana chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Master chief asked.
"It's the way you defy the covenant."
"They call me demon, Cortana. I'm just trying to live up to that standing."


As though making himself part of it, Sergeant Brad edged himself against a wall. Four marines in like manner lined beside him. Of twelve marines deployed by the pelican upon the covenant docking-bay as additional reinforcements, that was what presently remained.

The journey to this point had been pure hell for the men.
Mostly for Latoya Hegins, who seemed a little impatient settling behind cover just next to Sergeant Brad. Latoya and his friend Roy had grown up together, had signed up to UNSC on the same day. It had been a joy ride for both men at first, being sent on major military operations in the districts of Africa.

They had never been in a real war and battling alien foes had sounded a superb adventure until now. Sergeant Johnson's words came back to him. 'All you that wonna get up close and personal with covenant, now you get your chance. But I bet you might not entirely enjoy the experience when things get in the thick.'

To be continued...

BOAH4 part two: Dreams in detention
Date: 10 March 2007, 12:20 pm



Dreams in detention

      The restraint cords secured them with a firm clasp against their seats as the Pillar of Autumn's bridge crew, most of them face grimaced, teeth tightly gnashed, hoped that the Captain's indomitable decision was not going to get them all killed. The continued rumbling quaked and shivered the Halcyon-class warship's interior, frantic voices hurtling in terrified hysteria. A sudden elongated "boom", which gave off a most severe reverberation, spoke an abrupt end to their salvaged landing. First there was silence all over, alarmed faces calmed…before shouts of relief and victory abruptly took up the entire bridge.

      Like a giant whale washed ashore by a strong tide, the Pillar of Autumn battered and shaken, sat upon an extensive desert region of the immense ring world. So momentous was the shimmering of the sun which glinted off the ships beat-up hull. Smoke danced from the sandy mound formed at the lower sections of her to float into the grey sky. "We made it captain, no reports of any casualties from the crash," bridge officer Leonard said.

      "Of course we did," Captain Jacob Keyes replied, trashing the loosed cords aside to rise to his feet. "But this is no time for celebrations. You don't suppose the covenant entirely forgot about us the moment we plunged into…this thing's atmosphere. We'll have covenant vessels crawling all over this position in little time." The Captain commenced a stride toward the console which faced Leonard and two other officers when he added: "We're more on the safe side now that Cortana's been separated from the Autumn. Protocols are in check and since we're sure that the Autumn is undoubtedly crippled, the main subject of the moment will be how we can keep every remaining personnel alive and away from reach of the enemy, before any next line of action can be resolved. So wha---"

      "Multiple covenant vessels incoming on our position sir!" officer Beason shrieked over his shoulder from the opposite end of the room. "Um, sorry to interrupt you sir."
"How many?" Captain Keyes easily asked, turning to have view of the bridge-officer. Beason returned his gaze to his console wide-eyed. "Um, about…there's just too many of them sir. The size of drop ships."

      "And that's what they are. Either they are here to finish off whatever's left of us, or they intend to take prisoners." The captain swerved his calm-gaze back to officer Leonard, continuing with that ever untroubled tone he was known with: "Leonard, We're abandoning ship. Everyone."
"Understood sir," curly haired Leonard agreed.
"How many flights do we have left in the hangar?"
"Oh, more than enough sir. Apart from two pelicans that left the ship when we leveled into the pseudo-planet's atmosphere, no other aircrafts have left the Pillar of Autumn, and that should leave us with more than a dozen flights."

      "Good. Can we by any chance make contact with those two crafts?" The Captain asked.
"I'm afraid not sir, radio-com systems are still down."
"Very well, I want everyone assembled at the vehicle chambers, double time."
"Right away sir," Leonard responded, before he whirled to speak into the central communicator.

      Captain Keyes stuck his pipe in mouth before he began toward the bridge exit, but withdrew it shortly. "Anderson," he called, stopping near to another console.
"Sir!" a man rose to salute.
"I want you to take four other men with you and head to the armory. I want all my people armed with weapons."
"Yes sir."
"And… are there yet any marines left aboard this ship?"
"No idea sir."

      The Captain whirled to be looking at Leonard's corner again, while Anderson scuttled off. Leonard's voice was already ringing around the whole ship at this point. "All remaining personnel should please proceed to vehicle chamber for immediate evacuation." The bridge got a little rowdy with officers abandoning their stations and heading for the exit. Keyes allowed Leonard do his job, and looking to his right, noticed Beason already on the move. "Officer Beason."
The man saluted: "sir!"

      "I understand that Sergeant Johnson went with one of the life boats. But are there any marines left aboard the Autumn?"
"Yes sir. Sergeant Scofield and his team helped defend against boarders in second grid 0144 and are still in that sector. Can't explain how they survived the crash without restraints, but I guess they should be on their way to the hangar by now."
"Okay. You can be on your way, that's all I needed to know." Following toward the door with a casual gait, Keyes delved into the privacy of his thoughts. Reach is obliterated. The painfully nurtured Spartans bitterly lavished. The one ship assigned to my command, downed. This is a dreadful nightmare. I pray to God that these aliens do not by any means locate Earth. I guess I have to an extent performed my role in making sure that does not happen. The Cole Protocol has been fully achieved. It all lies in the hands of our last Spartan to keep it that way. But I trust John. As for these aliens; they seem to be getting too confident in militarily engaging we humans. I'll make sure they get a taste of what if feels like to underestimate humanity. Even if it has to end this way for me and my crew. Oh yes, they'll know they ran into a dog-headed human Captain.

      "Captain!" a voice shook him back into awareness. He was already past the first two corridors presently. The man that spoke was a sweaty marine. He had saluted, and trailed beside the captain shouldering his rifle. "We are experiencing a major problem sir. Both routs to the upper vehicle chamber have been blocked off by an explosion. We only have access to the main hangar bay. Which means that we can't currently gain access to any air-born vehicles."
"When did this happen?"
"I don't know sir, but we can clear the path by hand, just that it'll take a while."

      "You have to see this Captain," another man said, who was dressed in the red of an engineering officer and stood not many feet before the approaching men. He was peering through a view port. Captain Keyes reached and stood beside him to have a look. He observed, still casually. He had been listening to Central-com repeat the message, "enemy inbound," but did not expect this. An array of covenant drop ships already lined around the Pillar of Autumn. "Just how fast are these covenant?" Keyes muttered to himself. He turned around and referred to the marine who stood behind him.

      "You can see how little time we have soldier, get a move on, and divert everyone going towards the upper chambers." The marine nodded, made to hurry away. "One more thing," the Captain called. "What's the exact count of your squad, Corporal…?"
"Corporal Philips sir. We should be twelve in number."
"Corporal Philips, your job is to make sure everyone is securely in that hangar in the quickest time possible. And I expect to meet your commanding officer there for more orders."
"Right sir." And he trotted off. The other man equally hurried away at that command, before Keyes stared out again. He observed the rising spire in the distance. He didn't know what that structure was or served, but that was their destination. It was the closest thing to the crash site and he hoped it would make for momentary camp while he tried to reorganize his troops, but mostly that it was not some kind of automated military base. He simply hoped it was as deserted as it seemed, and even if they had to fight an entire covenant war fleet, they would give a better fight upon a facility that huge.

      Captain Keyes, guiding his glare downwards, revealed that the covenant drop ships, long ramps thumping open, were already emptying troops which Jacob Keyes observed most of them disappear against the Pillar of Autumn's sprawling shadow. The Captain better understood the urgency required of this evacuation as he continued along the corridor in muse. He soon noticed the horrible sight. Fires scorched here and there; human, covenant corpses sprawled all over the place. Those freaks bled blue, and mingled with human crimson, had the foul thing splattered over bulkhead and floor of almost every corner made by the Captain.

      In about ten minutes later, Keyes' shoe-steps clanged lightly against the slanting floor which joined the hangar's main access hatch. All eyes were pointed at him, of marines and officers grouped below. They all saluted in a manner that did not by any means synchronize. Hands folded behind back, the captain reached to be standing before them in the hugeness of the vehicle chamber. The crew noticed that he first arrowed a brief glance at the noses of the aircrafts which gaped from their high hung platforms. With just the LRVs accessible here in the lower sections around them, they wondered what the Captain's intention was. "Is this everyone?" They seemed quite small in number that it dismayed Keyes, but he hoped that most of the rest of his crew would be eventually numbered with those that exited in the life-boats rather than the dead.

      "No sir, Captain!" Sergeant Scofield exclaimed, emerging from the right where the marines were better orderly positioned. "Then who's left out?" Keyes asked.
"We're right here sir!" another voice sounded, tangled with multiple boot-steps that hurried down the tilted entrance. All turned to note bridge officer Anderson's entrance, with four additional men who shouldered packs just like he did. "Good job Anderson," Captain Keyes said, before he gestured a hand at the floor. "Lay em right here."

      The five men were all sweaty from hauling those packs all the way from armory. They let the bulky packs slip from their shoulders to the ground with followed thumps, after which they proceeded to join behind the lines. It was then that Officer Leonard equally arrived, stomped down the entrance. Keyes briefly noticed the final arrival before he turned to Scofield. "Sergeant, I want everyone armed ASAP, lets see what we've got there."
Scofield briskly fled to squat before the packs and giving up a sharp whiz, the first pack was unzipped by the Sergeant's quick fingers; fingers that may have gained their quickness from a life time's hasty shifting of rifle trigger. The stone jawed and narrow eyed marine gathered contents of the bag in both hands. "M6Ds MA5Bs." He dropped his first picks and rummaged for more, lifted them into sight and added: "A few frag-grenades, and lots of ammo."

      Captain Keyes retrieved his peek from the open pack, said: "That looks like enough to go round to me." He tried to search out Anderson at the rear of the lines. "Officer Anderson, why on Earth did you think these other packs necessary?"

      "Rocket launchers sir!" Anderson hollered from his position. "And rocket launcher ammo." At this point, Sergeant Scofield was already done unzipping one of the extra packs. "Rocket launcher," he said, looking up at the captain with a slight grin. "Hmm," The Captain went. "Excellent job Anderson, we might just be needing that much fire power. Have three of your men handle those weapons immediately Sergeant."
"Kelly!" Scofield shouted. "Mathew! Jackoby! You heard the Captain, get moving!" three marines abruptly broke the lines to scramble forward. While the three obeyed that command, freeing the M19SSMs from their leathery coverings, Sergeant Scofield stretched a hand to again reach for the first pack which he had budged to his side. He handled and shoved it to the right such that it slithered on the smooth floor to brake in front of the file of remaining marines.

      The Sergeant straightened, looked to the line of soldiers as though checking to see the most suitable men for the task. "Roy! Mackenzie!" he waved a hand. "Double time, make these cakes go round." They were quick in parting the queue and hefted the bag in no time by the two straps which they tugged apart to make it gape. Both men meddled through the lines lifting the pack in that manner, while multiple hands consecutively snatched at weapons of choice. With the exception of those already armed from the previous covenant attack.

      Sergeant Scofield looked behind just to satisfy himself with the fact that his boys as fast as lightening, already heaved the cumbersome rocket launchers against their trained shoulders. As the distribution of weapons went on, Jacob Keyes raised his face to catch sight of the gathered crew. "Alright, listen up people," he began. "We've got bands of the enemy out there already thinking up a way to access the Autumn." The Captain had dabbed an explanatory thumb at the thatch of bulkhead behind in making that point.

      "And I don't consider it to have been a very difficult task for them even while we were still in space. That should show you just how much time we have, to make a hurriedly planned exit." He sent a purposeful gaze at the high flung crafts again. "As I suppose you all know, all routs to the aerial vehicles were blocked off in the covenant's internal assault of the Autumn. So we'll have to somehow maximize the use of the LRVs, which is our only possible option in the present." What sounded like a light and distant explosion noised on the outside, forced everyone to look in the seeming direction.
"The covenant are already breaching the ship sir," Sergeant Scofield casually told the Captain. Keyes nodded, and went on rather too unperturbedly. "We'll have to be quick about this. I want…" he paused to observe and make estimations. "The best hands with the wheels; have ten LRVs lined in front of the deployment hatch ASAP. The rest of you, cock and load, we've got covenant blood to spill."

      Like a school of fish suddenly startled by a voracious predator, the lines abruptly dispersed. Apart from the marines, most of the other men gathered around the gun-pack for extra ammo which they stiffly tucked into their belts and pants.

      The land-vehicle-deployment hatch was such that it slanted not just on this inner path but after the level platform facing the door upon which the vehicles were now lined, another slant followed and would be revealed the moment the outer ramps drop and the hatch is thrown open. So wide was the deployment hatch that even after ten LRVs were stationed horizontally on its level platform, it still held enough space for at least half a dozen more. Captain Keyes approached the thrumming vehicles making it up the tilted path.

      Having handed his personal M6D pistol to the MJOLNIR armored Master Chief, the Captain now equipped himself with another of that preferred weapon of his. Behind him was Private Jackoby who heaved one of the heavy rocket launchers along. Keyes' estimations were strikingly accurate, for apart from Jackoby and Corporal Philips whom he ordered to roll up an eleventh warthog, all other LRVs were occupied and no crew member was left out. More faint booms suggested that the covenant were already gaining access to different sectors of the ship.

      Captain Keyes stopped in front of the hatch's manual release lever, turned to refer to the armored vehicles arrayed to his right. "I hope everyone got this right. Even though we can assume that the covenant do not have an idea of what we're about, the moment I release this door, we equally don't precisely know what we're going to be faced with out there. Nevertheless let us all try our best to keep focused on the main objective… And give em hell while we are at it." The captain thought he heard a silent "hoorah" by a marine. "In my opinion people," he carried on, "the covenant have pushed us too far. And for all I know, we did not manage to land this ship just to be obliterated by some offensively ugly aliens!" Some of them still possessed spirit high enough for a chuckle.

      Jacob Keyes unusually spoke loudly and passionately as he added: "So we aren't giving up just yet!" The Captain's words were stressed such that it reminded Sergeant Scofield of a preacher he once listened to in his childhood days on Earth. "The freaks may be more in number," Keyes continued. "But their gathered wits cannot by any means be compared to that of any human within this hangar." The Sergeant better positioned himself rifle in hand and battle ready in the passenger seat of that first LRV looking as ready to kick covenant butt as he ever would. Behind him, a bridge officer rather awkwardly gripped the turret with a determined hold nodding in approval of the Captain's words. Even if they were not courageous enough earlier on, the ardor that streamed with Captain Keyes voice came a long way in helping achieve that now.

      The additional vehicle rumbled up the path to brake behind Sergeant Scofield's ride and near to where the Captain stood. Keyes concluded as he pulled the lever: "And the most imperative command that I shall issue you this hour soldiers…is that you stay alive! Let us go soldiers, for REACH!" and unlike Captain Keyes it was loud; so loud that it echoed in the hugeness of the hangar bay. "For REACH!" they all shouted in response, guns and fists flailing in the air.

      A shady cast of natural light flashed from below to meet their faces as the lengthy hatch groaned apart. Captain Keyes and Jackoby, whom he waved along, were quick to join Philips in the last LRV while the others were already barreling down the slope headed towards the lowered outer ramp. The coalescing of many vehicle engines roared at the hangars hollow interior. The first warthog to thump the sandy ground was Sergeant Scofield's. The vehicle's shocks recoiled and rebounded but the bobbing did not stop Scofield from picking off two covenant grunts to the left flank as the vehicle careened under the Pillar of Autumn's great shadow. He heard the deafening turret above his head as it crackled shots that knocked protesting covenant ground troops off their feet, fountains of sand sprayed by the mounted three-barreled machine-gun in the process. Other vehicles stumbled into the open field, which had covenant ranks strewn all over it like insects come to feed on a substantial catch. Turrets crackled, rifles rattled, while pistols banged at the enemy as the vehicles poured into the open. Covenant grunts panicked, scrambled for unavailable safety. Elites defiantly fired back at the emerging LRVs unflinchingly taking fire against their armor. Of which many were leveled by the human assault.

      Scofield twisted his neck further left, along the Pillar of Autumn's extensive hull, to notice covenant drop-ships hovering at various positions, whom were vainly emptying more troops onto the downed giant. Before them, about half a kilometer or so after the Autumn's shade, more drop-ships were docked whilst banshees patrolled the brilliant sunlit sky.

      Naturally, the covenant expected two things. Either the humans remained in their ship in fear of the enemy, which the aliens thought most likely; or they attempted an escape with their smaller troopships. They never anticipated this crazy move of ground vehicles hurtling across the sandy span. Nevertheless all covenant attention was drawn to the LRVs now. Sergeant Scofield's warthog made the lead as they managed to thunder past the Pillar of Autumn's dark shadow into brighter lit area where the sand seemed to dazzle from the sun's heated touch. One other LRV sped next to it, while the rest maintained a triangular formation behind. Their heavy tires kicked up sand, had their quick passage engulfed in a trailing mass of shrouding dust. Presently they were free of any disturbance from those ground forces, who remained within closer proximity of the Pillar of Autumn. While they sped towards the docked drop-ships, banshees were already gathering from different angles, brushing through the sky to engage a pursuit.

      Two banshees in particular had been the only ones hovering near to the docked covenant ships and before the approaching human vehicles. They dived, approached head-on in the nearer sky and opened plasma fire. Plasma rounds shattered windshield of one speeding LRV before M19SSM rocket launcher projectiles fled from the herd to squeal toward the aerial assault aircrafts. Preciseness of those shots met one banshee in the nose. The other was quick to veer off but lost one wing which turned its swerve into an uncontrollable reel. And it reeled out of sight of the warthogs which was a good thing because the other projectile-rammed banshee sent spinning fragments that whipped through the air lunging directly at the escaping LRVs. The crew of Scofield's and the other ride which followed to their right ducked their heads in avoidance of what was more of an oversized spinning sword. Smoldering hot, the shrapnel halved the mounted turrets on both rides, cut both turrets and tore two gunners of the next LRVs in half who were the slowest to make an evasive move. Every other gunner dodged and the shrapnel disappeared into the dusty trail left behind by the rides, after it had destroyed five complete turrets and two men.

      The rest of the shrapnel that lunged in their direction was small in comparison but were dangerously hot. One hissed past Scofield's ear. Some pierced into windshields and hung there like assassin darts, while some buried into shoulder and limbs of men who grunted at the pain. A marine was the driver of one of the warthogs who lost their gunners: Corporal Raul. Raul tried to keep his eye on the road and at the same time urge the bridge officer who was seated next to him to make use of his rifle rather than cringe into the lower part of the car. "More fighter crafts, six o clock!" An engineering officer screamed from the next ride, tore off rounds of his rifle in the direction before others joined to make a deadly barrage. "Make yourself and that weapon useful soldier," Raul growled. "We got more incoming!" The man finally got up to aim his rifle backwards just to witness that the gunner who had lost his entire torso still spurted blood on the turret stand. He grimaced, more like one who was in some kind of pain, releasing the most awkward shots at the hastily approaching banshees.

      At this point the Pillar of Autumn's crew was drawing nearer to the two docked drop-ships. The space between the two ships was wide enough to take all the LRVs in their V formation. Every gunner of the remaining three-barreled mounted machine-guns were scattering rounds at the pursing covenant banshees. Of which the new arrivals were more careful to dodge, performed the most aerodynamically impossible maneuvers of avoidance ever seen by the humans. Three out of what happened to be six banshees dived, closed in almost simultaneously. They fired their dual fuel-rod cannons. The first erupted near Captain Keyes' LRV which tailed behind and was not part of the formation. The impact lifted a great shower of sand and tilted the left side of the vehicle so that it continued a few seconds on two wheels before bouncing back into balance. Shots from the other two banshees were aimed to the rear of the formation where it buried into the sand skimming the under side of one LRV. The LRV was thrown high into the air by that force. Like a piece of toy, the light reconnaissance vehicle was aloft and performed a sever spin forward, its shadow slowly flying past the other cars.

      As for the banshees that dared come close enough for a fuel-rod attack, not all pulled up quick enough. Rocket launcher rounds from Corporal Kelly and Mathew tore two to shreds while the third already smoking black at its side from turret fire, was lucky to escape a last M19SSM projectile released by Jackoby which breezed wide. The exploding banshees blasted into pieces and tumbled away against the hurrying ground, and were not by any means a threat to the LRVs in this case since the attack came from behind. The pilots of those two forward drop-ships must have been scrambling as quick as they could to make it to the guns the moment they sighted the LRVs because the U shaped covenant drop-ships suddenly released huge bolts of scorching plasma from their top-guns, starting with the one on the right, then the one on the left wing. Wide-eyed, Sergeant Scofield threw his face backward waving an arm. "Break formation! Break formation!" the man screamed at the height of his vocals

      Though Sergeant Scofield's driver swerved the vehicle to sway in avoidance of those deadly beams, it was too late for some of the LRVs. One took a direct hit that rained molten windshield into the driver's face. He screamed in agony, steered too hard to cause the vehicle to tumble violently sideways. Their gunner was tossed into the air, hands flailing helplessly. The man's landing was greeted with one of the LRVs accidentally ramming him into oblivion, blood splattering against windshield. Other LRVs skewed around the tumbled warthog as it finally ended its crash upside down, tires spinning vainly; Just for another careless driver to slam into it causing both vehicles to go up in blistering flames. The formation was broken and the humans made themselves more difficult targets swaying left and right like desperate bugs seeking a path out of a flaming maze. They showed their skills dodging those hellish spits of plasma beam that flared through the air in rapid bursts. Corporal Mathew's hasty hands were deftly reloading his rocket launcher. The teetering of the LRV made it into a most difficult task. But he succeeded…balanced it upon his shoulders, took unsteadied aim, and slammed the fat trigger to send a missile whistling away. It struck into the top-gun of the left handed covenant ship to completely neutralize that threat, leaving black plume that smoked from the severed spot.

      While the other covenant drop-ships were too far off to get a precise shot at them, it was just the drop-ship by the right that continued to rain hell at them. The vehicles neared the gap which separated both ships. Getting past that space would mean that they would only be faced with the banshees that stalked above. It would be more like breaking through an enemy siege-wall in ancient Earth battles. But it was at that moment that the LRV which had been whisked into the air, which had gone spinning overhead of the other warthogs lifted by the banshee fuel-rod cannons, landed headlong in the exact middle of the gap with a dull clatter.

      Scofield's LRV being the first tried to avoid but brushed past it, causing the vehicle to behave in the same manner as the Captain's ride from the earlier banshee attack. The difference being that Scofield's LRV continued on two wheels only for the briefest seconds before it somersaulted against the sand. Other vehicles did good to avoid both crashed LRVs, whipping past in meaningful speed. Just as the remaining cars made it across the gap, Corporal Mathew released his last round of rocket launcher to pluck off the yet disturbing drop-ship gun that had been trailing their progress with frustrating spits of plasma fire. They had made it across the gap. Their destination loomed before them as the speeding LRVs spat dust at the covenant forces behind. An expansive super structure with an extensive spire which had some kind of beam extending from it. That was their hope for at least a good fight against the covenant. It was all open desert from here on

      As the dust of their passing cleared…a toppled LRV which had tumbled beyond the gap of covenant drop-ships was revealed, tires spinning in poignant futility. A figure crawled into view from underneath. Sergeant Scofield bled from the nose, a bloody scar on his left temple; his left leg took on a sharp pain that told him just how damaged it must be. His frail and trembling left hand clawed at the sand. After all that plummeting, the man had not lost grip of his rifle. His right hand maintained its clasp of the weapon as it reached across the sand. He winced, tried to pull himself into open ground. The pain in the left leg neared excruciating and Scofield grunted loudly, panted, and rested himself from the strain. He sent his gaze to the right, witnessed how hopeless his situation was by the distance his comrades had covered.

      Scofield suddenly felt like life tried to force its way out of him. But then came that sound. He could never mistake it. He had heard the sound of those vehicles too many a times in his violent military life not to recognize it. The Sergeant was sure it was a warthog even though the sound echoed in his head. His mind surely did not deceive him as another LRV zoomed past his helpless self. Sergeant Scofield tried to call for help but discovered his throat refused to function. And they had not noticed him. Swift shadows of three banshees one after the other fled past him next. Obviously in pursuit of his comrades. There was only one other option and he hoped it would work. He managed to raise the MA5B Assault Rifle's muzzle high enough to crack sweltering bursts into the air. Scofield hoped his comrades would hear that gunfire, hoped it would not be muffled by the loud sounding warthog…then collapsed.

      If it was hours, minutes or mere seconds that had past the man could not tell, but felt both his arms grasped and dragged. That left leg offered a cruel pain as he felt himself finally pulled out from below the vehicle. He heard a man's voice asking: "Are you Okay, Sir?" and it sounded like Jackoby's. But there was no more strength left in his weary body. He opened his eyes and it was all blurry, but he noticed the human shape of two faces. He shut his eyes again, for keeping them open seemed to take so much out of him.

      Captain Keyes threw Sergeant Scofield's right arm over his shoulders, curved his own arm around the man's torso. "Be careful with the legs," Keyes told Jackoby who hefted the man from the other side. The warthog thrummed standing about fifteen paces ahead of them. Corporal Philips impatiently glanced at them in his position of the driver's seat. Both men scampered along the sand with Scofield supported against their shoulders, his dragged feet making a track across the sand. Perhaps Captain Keyes had purposely wanted his LRV to trail behind due to contingencies such as this. And now it seemed a reasonable idealist strategy. Jackoby had taken out one of the three banshees before they made the reverse on picking the sound of that rifle fire. Captain Jacob Keyes knew that what remained of his escaping UNSC personnel could hold off two banshees till they got to their destination of that great spire which brooded beyond the waiting LRV. The plan had been that casualties might be uncured in the process of escape but that no vehicle was to stop for any what so reason. And here was Captain Keyes breaking his own rule and putting more lives at stake. He disliked this soft part of him that always sprang up at times but allowed himself be overwhelmed by it nevertheless.

      They were a less than a meter away from their ride now, and Keyes thought he could hear covenant forces behind them. Jackoby, even with the burden of a wounded marine upon his shoulders kept trying to glance backwards. They were there. Jacob Keyes reached out a hand to grab the upper fringes of the car…"Boom." A whitish-blue explosion tore at the LRV, threw the three men backwards.

      In the next moments, Keyes opened his eyes to wince at a harsh sunlight that descended from a lingering sky. His breath heaved, rasped, and he thought he heard his own heartbeat. The silhouette figure of what was definitely not a man looked down at him. "Kill him," an acutely deep voice sounded nearby. "Kill them all." Keyes watched the barrel of an alien weapon come over his face. The weapon with a loud swoosh, released a substance over the Captain that felt as though the sun itself had descended from the sky to strike him with a heated palm…

      Captain Jacob Keyes' eyes briskly shot open. He ran edgy hands over his face groping his fingers around it in frantic terror. Those anxious fingers went damp with liquid. He widened desperate eyes to look down at his outstretched palms only to realize it was perspiration. He was seated with back against a hard surface. Looking forward revealed a gleaming containment field. Keyes looked around and the realization of where he was flooded back into his mind. He took a breath of relief.

      The covenant detention cell was small and square shaped having that same dour purple color. And the shady confine was not even equipped with necessary nature-call amenities. It made the Captain wonder what the covenant life was like outside the place of battle.

      Keyes wondered for how long he had slumbered. My tired body seemed to get the better of me he thought. But that was not how it happened. Yes it was similar to the real experience but… He touched his face again. My face is not roasted… and I'm still alive. He suddenly remembered wounded Scofield being tossed into a cell opposite him. Keyes reached forward, peered out through the translucent gleam of containment field. Scofield was blissfully asleep in his cell and surprisingly his wounds somehow seemed to be catered for.

Surely there has to be a way out of this
Not without a fight
It can not end like this

Detention station main door hissed, approaching covenant voices noised on the outside.

      Sergeant Brad took another peek of the corner, turned to pass instructions to the marines. But Latoya Hegins whom was nearest to the Sergeant apart from the other three marines, paid attentive ears and at the same time heard nothing, for he was lost in deep muse. Thoughts swirled in Hegins' despaired mind as the death of his friend in the past minutes kept recurring to him.

We had made it that far. The escape pod had been safely landed near that rockslide upon a grassy plain of this ring world. The great cluster of boulders had provided good cover against the covenant search and destroys, most of whom were neatly taken out by Edmond's sniper rifle. But then more covenant drop-ships began to descend just when Edmond started to come short of ammo. Our last remaining Spartan, the Master Chief, had saved our sorry behinds back there. I and Roy had been more than glad being sent on this mission as reinforcements for the same Spartan 117 who had saved our hopeless situation. Why did Roy have to survive all the battles against the Noruban rebels at the African excavation site of West Mutombo? Roy had learnt their language in less than a year that we served there, and had explained to me what the rebels always chanted whenever they engaged us in battle. "Leave the land of our fathers you devils sent of the beast." Roy had fought very well, and was always a better soldier than I am. Why then Roy, did you have to survive the boarders on the Pillar of Autumn? I actually concluded it was due to your luck that our life-boat managed to make a safe landing. You had survived the covenant search and destroy party, Roy. Only to be fried by alien plasma bolts the moment we touched down in this covenant ship. That is what I fail to understand. It happened just too easily. Just one instance and twenty one years of friendship ends before my eyes. What point is there in living on when one lost a friend such as Roy? I'm a bloody bastard and a damnable orphan with no one to call family. I've just suddenly lost the nearest thing to family that I ever knew. Surely to me life has entirely lost its meaning.

      Hegins, even though he watched Sergeant Brad's lips move as they leaned against that wall, did not make out a single word of what his commanding officer said. If only he had kept the ponder for a later time, he would have heard the man explain that the two hurrying covenant elites had just made it into the door of that next corridor, and that the plan was to stealthily trail them, for they were definitely headed towards the location of the Master Chief. And that their not noticing them to this point, meant that the covenant must think they had eliminated all human reinforcements.

      Sergeant Brad stole a final peep, waved the men forward to secure the next corridor. "Now, let's move it," he whispered. Hegins was supposed to take point. Private Akindele who was next to him noticed he was not moving and nudged the marine forward with a jerk of his sleeve. "Come on snap out of it Hegins."

      Like a light bulb suddenly flicked on, Hegins was once more alert of his surroundings. And the first thing he noticed was the Sergeants hands waving them into that corridor. He firmed the grip of his weapon and scrambled past Sergeant Brad into the corner. The other three marines followed. They stumbled into and pointed their weapons in the directions necessary for securing the passage. But Hegins was not stopping. They alarmingly watched the young man trot toward the closed door which quickly hissed apart. Hegins continued in his thoughts. The only life I know now is the one where I kill covenant. And sure as hell I'm gonna kill me a lot of covenant this day. The opened door revealed the two covenant who were furious to notice the marine. They made to point their plasma rifles at him. Hegins gave them a wicked grin, aimed his assault rifle at them.


To be continued.

Battles of Alpha Halo 4 (part three): Frantic Corridors
Date: 27 March 2007, 10:22 am

BOAH4:Part three

Frantic Corridors

      I know what troubles you Hegins, Private Akindele thought, immediately following behind his comrade who took point as they made into the corridor. But only if you knew how much I also have lost, not even to this war but to the most peaceful days before ever there were any aliens. Hegins' oblong shadow against the forward bulkhead made for the right flank in accord with the marine, weapon pointed. Akindele knew his task was to watch the narrowness of the path which was their entrance. He whirled to slam back against that same spot from where Hegins' shadow had fled. He watched Natoli fall in and make for the opposite flank. Chris was next with poised assault rifle, who followed in the same direction as Hegins to make two guns. "Too many damn doors and corners in this covenant ship." Natoli whispered, aiming an M6D pistol at the door on the end of his wing, main weapon fastened to his back. The silent talk had drawn Akindele's gaze to point at the lanky and dark haired marine. Of which he withdrew it now to be aimed to his left just to notice a puzzled look on Chris's face whom stared toward the end of that other wing.

      Akindele furthered his gaze along that section of the corridor, to notice Hegins briskly trotting straight to the door and not half looking like he was stopping. "No," Akindele gasped, brushed past Chris to make after Hegins who had so neared the door. His heavy soldier boots stomped and hammered the ground as he closed in on the marine. The door drew open, Akindele managed to catch glimpse of the two Elites across Hegins' shoulders. He dived, more out of instinct than any other thing. His shaved head was first to slam into his partner's hip section, followed by his arms which tried to curve around him. For that thump against the waist to hurt Akindele's trained head so much told him that Hegins would suffer some significant after pain. But the marine's life was at the moment a more important factor of consideration.

      Akindele had heard Hegins' weapon go off briefly. Both men crashed hard on the ground and Akindele was certain of that familiar sound of plasma bolts which swiftly traveled over their heads. Akindele rolled his fallen body leftwards. He braked, lying on his left side, cocked his head upwards to have a tilted view of four large Sangheili legs hundred inches away. Something had clattered against the ground during his roll. He saw that it was Hegins rifle, which now ended its distant skid near the alien feet. A feeling of rashness washed over Akindele all of a sudden, with the realization of how open a target they presently became for the aliens. The marine's rifle was still tightly held in his right arm; he swung strong biceps, hoped he would be quick enough as he watched one of the covenant plasma rifle muzzles begin to aim at him. Coalesced rattling that sounded from behind Akindele confirmed to be rifle-shots as dazzling energy abruptly worked around both covenant body amours. The Elites growled and returned fire in that direction, giving Akindele a chance to add to the hell already being unleashed on them.

      At first he saw bullets clink and ring against the ground as they were briefly held off by the covenant amour. Before he saw blue blood splatter against floor and bulkhead of the short corridor, his weapon still pulsing in his hands and delivering further damage. One covenant's crashing to the ground only caused the other to bellow in fury tossing away his overheated plasma rifle, and charged forward. He stopped before Hegins, who Akindele for the first time noticed was unconscious. The Elite as though to deliver this final act with his last breath, absorbed weapons fire, raised a monstrous leg that made to crush Hegins' head. But rushing boot steps from behind was followed with what sounded like the wicked eruption of an M90 shotgun. That unfriendly weapon sent the Elite flying backwards to land some reasonable feet away from the oblivious marine. Akindele for the first time realized why Natoli preferred the short range weapon. He had argued the usefulness of such close quarter weapons with his friend in the past and didn't just see why any soldier would refer to a sidearm and shotgun as complete gear. All the battles Akindele had ever known before he joined UNSC were such whereby you had to take cover from enemy fire from a reasonable distance and return fire.

      And as for pistols, he would normally consider himself half weaponless on a battlefield whenever he was left with just that toy-like weapon which always felt so tiny in his large hands. Natoli offered him a helping hand which he grabbed and was pulled to his feet. He nodded his thanks. Natoli squatted over Hegins resting his shotgun on a thigh, and turned the collapsed marine over to check his pulse. "He's fine" he said, looking back at the approaching Sergeant Brad who changed magazines in his coming. Private Akindele, assault rifle balanced on both hands, strolled toward the dead aliens. He sent a detestable kick to the head of one, cursed in his tongue, and spat on the corpse. "Enough of that already, Private," The Sergeant called out to him. "We don't want anybody else getting excessly emotional over the darn covenant."

      A despising scowl still hung on his face as Akindele withdrew, and that expression made it clear that he may have gone on to do more than just spitting on the dead covenant. Perhaps emptying what remained of his clip on inert corpse just as Hegins had needlessly done to the jackal that got Roy, may have to some extent brought satisfaction to the big man. Chris' rifle still burned from the termination of the covenant threat, which he pointed backwards now to watch their rear. "Alright, alert that marine and let's be on the move," Sergeant Brad told Natoli. "We probably have given away our position already."

      Feeling more like an experimental specimen trapped in the cage of a mad scientist's laboratory, Captain Jacob Keyes stared out of the faintly droning containment field which made sure that he securely remained in his cell. The two covenant that gazed at him seemed to be of rank. And they were deeply engaged in a discussion that he could not make anything of. The way they moved those segmented mandibles told Keyes just how impossible it would be for any human to successfully utter the covenant tongue.

      "And what makes you think, Commander Reuzan," General Kaziska said, keenly watching Captain Keyes. "That a thing so simple and doltish airs disparity among the human military ranks?"
"The humans have always behaved unpredictably my General," Reuzan replied. "And I must mention that the data-brooders have stated it to be a confirmed human conceptualization. They are a most unpredictable race. In troop deployment, vessel engagement tactics, and every other possible thing one may imagine.

      "Colors upon the breast?" Kaziska mentioned, before he snorted. "Why would colors upon the breast signify rank?
He gave Keyes closer observation. The Captain indifferently stared back at him. "This one looks so weak," General Kaziska said.

      Kaziska looked to the next cell, where a muscular marine sat, who scowled at the aliens. "Perhaps I would have better believed if it were told me that this one was a Captain." He looked back at Reuzan who stood to his left. "Or what do you think Reuzan? I would consider it an interesting sight. How can a human so small have outperformed the bigger ones to earn the position of Captain?"
"I doubt if the human ranks are determined by honorable demonstrations."
Kaziska snorted again. "Even if the data-brooders are accurate, concerning the fact that the humans likely habit other planets; I doubt if the Hierarchs will offer such a feeble race a place in the great journey. For I even hold the Unggoy in higher regard." He paused as one in thought, before he added: "Save for the demon of course. But his advance will end within these chambers."

      He turned to make toward the exit. "Let us be gone commander. The trap is well set." Following behind, Reuzan's alien countenance was taken in a surprised expression. "What trap if I may ask my General, do you speak of?" Kaziska replied in his continued advance, gesturing with an arm: "You may withdraw your guards commander Reuzan." The other Sangheili stopped short at that statement. Kaziska expected the shock, but did not care to look back as he included: "You know how Razoor likes to work alone." Reuzan's steps were quicker now as he tried to catch up. "If the demon can get past five of my strongest warriors, then he should no longer be considered a demon…but a god."

      "If the demon has outsmarted our defenses to this point," Kaziska said, knowingly avoiding the term "beaten". He stopped near to the exit, waited for Reuzan to be standing beside him again before he took peripheral glance of him and added: "Would you then count it foolishness for me to entrust the duty of his destruction into the hands of a master stealth-blade?"
"Uhm--my apologies General." Reuzan obsequiously said. He looked across his shoulders, and a bit let down, waved the guards out of the room. One of those arcade-like com-devices which stood at the left wing near the exit door, beeped green. Reuzan made for it as the guards trotted past him and General Kaziska, door hissing open to receive their departure.

      The bright light immediately lit against his face the moment he depressed the transmission button. "Commander Reuzan," the highlighted covenant crackled. "Orders have just come in from the Supreme Commander; that the truth and reconciliation should make for orbit whilst the demon is still onboard." Reuzan shifted a confused expression to the General. The sudden stiffness of Kaziska's face forced away his glance. Looking back at the on-screen covenant, Reuzan nodded: "Understood. As the Supreme Commander commands, it shall be passed to the General immediately." The screen went blank again. Reuzan straightened and turned to the general not knowing whether to pass the information which he was sure he had also heard.

      "You see, Reuzan," Kaziska said. "That is what I am talking about. The demon has so far made me look silly in the eyes of Supreme Commander Orreius."
"Now I understand, my General. Forgive my earlier foolishness."
Kaziska's turning to face the door was swift. Reuzan followed and they both proceeded through the exit. "The next room was a wider space where more guards positioned at dutiful positions. In their continued stride, Kaziska told Reuzan, with a touch of anger in his tone: "Your guards Reuzan, your guards." Even though the General did not look at him, Reuzan tried to hide the scowl that first crossed his face. Even the guards on the outside? Now they over rate these stealth-blade. He gestured an armored hand for their withdrawal. The guards scrambled in straight files to make for the next door. As though saying the words to himself, kaziska growled: "Make it a painful death Razoor. I do not think we need him alive any longer."

      And to whom General Kaziska spoke…there was no form; neither was there a response.

      Master Chief stripped off the fallen covenant's grenade belt. He tugged out one plasma grenade into his gloved hand. "The covenant don't look like they are relenting Chief," Cortana piped. "Motion sensors show more guards quickly making it to our position from this end."
"And the others are still out there?"
"Yes. And they've not given up the idea of flanking us."
Master Chief's hands moved deftly as he worked with haste and precision. He holstered the one he held and picked up the second plasma rifle which had lain on the floor. Plasma grenade in one and Plasma rifle in the other hand, he straightened and headed back toward the door where he had re-erected and positioned the com-device.

      On nearing, he threw himself with back against the com-device, hardness of his metallic Spartan Amour giving off a dull ram. Half crouched, in order to make sure he did not receive fire to the back of his head; he began to shuffle backwards, com-device grating ahead of the witty advance. Door drew open and they were in the next square shaped section. Covenant artillery abruptly noised to fill the air. He could hear plasma bolts fizzle against the hard surface of his moving cover. Those most weird needler weapons also whistled loudly. The Spartan had acted with such haste that at this point he did not know exactly what he was up to. He continued anyway. He was not sure how lucky he was going to get this time, were more covenant to empty through that forward door which he continuously backed away from.

      Master Chief suddenly halted his advance. He remained behind cover. Probably in curiosity or caution, and remembering the demons earlier tricks, the covenant seized fire…and there was silence. Silence that also slightly unnerved the Spartan. But in that same fraction of a second the Master Chief realized their uncertainty. He briskly threw the plasma grenade overhead, knowing that the covenant were sure to this time around, be in doubt of what exactly it was that traveled through the air. And he heard it bellowed by an Elite in what was probably Sangheili tongue; and the Master Chief was sure it must have meant GRENADE!

      He swiftly allowed his full seven feet as he made out of cover, plasma rifle in both hands. The sight of both Jackals as they made off with activated shields on their heads almost caused Cortana to laugh. They were all "flee", from the glowing ball on the ground. Even the Elites, who made straight for the door behind them. Master Chief released heated spits of plasma that first took out both Jackals. Their shields dazzled of blue energy from the Chief's assault before the Elites made into the door. The grenade splayed in a flash of blue-white explosion.

      Immediately after which Spartan 117 dashed toward the forward door. He rested back to the left wing of the spread of bulkhead upon which the door was wedged. He looked forward at the other door which was now somewhat distant. No covenant yet. He edged closer to the door of his side. He knew he had to make it in there quickly but the covenant would most likely have their weapons aimed and waiting for him to do just that. What next? He had to think. He led his eyes to the far side of the room which was gapped by the glaring fall-space. He'd need wings or a rocket pack to make such a jump, and the corps did not issue him any. He had also looked down that un-girded space earlier, and knew how deathly a drop it was.

      "Good run Chief," Cortana said. "But the other covenant will be through that other door in a matter of seconds." Probably because she's just AI John thought. She doesn't realize how utterly annoying she can sound at times. "I'm trying to think Cortana," he responded, with the usual calm tone.

"Oh--sorry."

      Just then, weapons fire sounded within the door. Human weapons fire. The familiar roaring of protesting Elites was followed by the door hissing open, and three Elites raging out of it. They had it in mind that the Master Chief was still out here of course, and when they failed to see him along the corridor, turned to notice Spartan 117 leaned against the bulkhead. They made to point their weapons at him. The Chief reflexively rushed at them. His iron-hard helmeted head gave a dull thump against one of the Elite's armored chest. That Elite's rifle flew out of his hand from the impact.

      The Master Chief still tried to maintain grip of his own weapons even with his arms wrapped around the Elites body. Spartan 117 displayed unlikely strength forcing that covenant toward the un-girded fall-space. Before the other two could fry his back as they intended, both the Chief and the rammed covenant took an abrupt tumble down the gap.



To be continued

Battles of Alpha Halo 4 (part four): Spartan in a Tangle
Date: 26 April 2007, 1:07 pm

BOAH4 Part four
Spartan in a Tangle

      Apart from the pain that throbbed at Latoya Hegins' waist, his aching head also felt like a different war was being fought within it. They had changed course on hearing weapons fire rise from a corner they had already gone past. Natoli and Akindele were on point as they headed backwards. Sergeant Brad was right in front of Hegins, while Chris tailed behind. Losing radio contact with Cortana had made the task of locating his position quite difficult, but now they knew it had to be the Spartan Master Chief engaging Covenant forces. And they knew he needed their help. They were his reinforcement, and so far, since Foe Hammer deployed them upon the Covenant bay, they had not exactly carried out that purpose.

Hegins kept resenting the fact that they didn't let him die back there. His current orientation was even worse and he knew it. It had been anger and hate; but presently it was sorrow and despair. I'll still die anyhow, he thought. Me, Akindele…everyone. Why didn't they just let me die taking those two crater-faced Covenant with me? I even doubt if we'll make it outta here alive. Doesn't make any difference to me now, when or how a man died. Every man, soldier or not, is gonna die someday. And if we all die in this Alien ship today, it wouldn't make any difference. Neither would it have any effect on the course of the world. Things would just carry on without us.

      "Hey, better keep it sane this time Hegins," Chris's voice sounded from behind him as they continued. "If you're gonna throw your life away just because the covie got your friend, then…what about trying to stay alive so we can do damage to the enemy before they get us?" They reached the corner and Akindele edged himself at the bend, the remaining marines leaning against bulkhead in a straight file next to him. He stole a peek. The passage was empty but a door stood at the end. "Damn it if you think that Roy was not equally my dude," Chris whispered on, watching only the back of Hegins head who did not seem to be responding to his talk.

      "Roy was my friend also. And think about it Hegins, what if he was able to contact you with a word from where ever the hell he is right now. What do you think he would tell you man. He'd beg you to stay alive. And that you'd be doing him the greatest favor doing so. He'd f***ing beg you to fight the damn covies for him. Stay alive Hegins, and let's beat these aliens. Let's do it for Roy." Hegins finally turned his face to glare at Chris with a determined gaze. The scowl on the marine's sweaty face told Chris that his words had hit home. Such that he could see the flames of vengeance flare in his glistening brown eyes.

      Hegins gaze remained on Chris a while more before he nodded, wiped his forehead with his sleeve. Chris put on a mean look, said: "That's more like it soldier. Let's give the bastard aliens hell for bringing down Roy, and every other marine we've lost so far, both on Reach and on the Pillar of Autumn." Looking forward, Hegins noticed the rest were not yet making the corner. He returned his attention to Chris and cocked his rifle. "That's it Hegins," Chris carried on. "Lets show em we aint called leathernecks for nothing. And you can be sure I got your back while we're at this."

      Just as Akindele thought of making it into the corridor, the door on the end of it slid open and three Covenant Elite stumbled into view. Akindele abruptly withdrew his face. He looked back at Sergeant Brad. "What's the situation?" the Sergeant quickly asked.
"We have three contacts sir."
He peeked again to see how near the aliens must have approached, but saw them crouched near to the door instead, and the dazzling energy that ringed around their amour told that their shields were recharging from fresh weapons fire. Returning his face, Akindele said: "And they look to be taking cover sir."

      Private Akindele was more than pleased to see the Sergeant motion a hand for them to engage the enemy. Sergeant Brad had barely issued the order "Go!" before the marine stormed into the corridor, heard the others scramble behind him. The Elites turned on picking up their boot-steps. The UNSC squad opened fire against them, weapons crackling and thundering as they advanced systematically. Quickly rising to their feet, their armor dazzled of bright alien energy as heated bullets hammered against it, and the nine foot aliens saw the barrage was too much for them to attempt firing back at the enemy. They desperately whirled and hustled back into the door they had emerged from. The door slid shut after receiving them, causing the soldiers to swiftly increase pace so as to catch up. Akindele had managed to grab view of the room which the Covenant made into and thought he saw nothing but two dead jackals on a wider passage. He wondered what it was that the aliens had taken cover from if it had not been the Spartan Master Chief.

      As though their brains functioned together, the marines and Sergeant Brad were brisk to file up a formation in front of the now reached door. Akindele and Chris edged closer to opposite bulkheads of the corridor, Hegins and Natoli knelt in the middle and before the door while Sergeant Brad stood behind both of them, all weapons pointed. Akindele was just through changing magazines when the Sergeant thrust another commanding hand. "Go--go--go!"

      Akindele counted tentative steps forward for the door to hiss apart. To their surprise…empty passage. Apart from the two dead jackals on the floor, the aliens were no where in sight, and though there was another door on the end of this next room there was no way the Elites would have made it there so quickly.
"Hold!" Sergeant Brad lifted a fist ordering Akindele. Still standing behind both kneeling marines, Brad lowered weapon, narrowed curious eyes. He stepped around the men in front of him, got closer to the open door, and stopped. He stood in momentary thoughtfulness before he glanced back at his men, said: "The flanks." He moved closer to the right wing, motioned a hand to the left: "Natoli."

      Natoli, instantly comprehending why the Sergeant issued him that order, rose to his feet, holstered his M6D and swung an arm behind to reach for his shotgun. He hurried, edged himself on that side of the corridor near to the open door. He and Brad moved in the same motion to completely near both edges of the entrance. Both men squatted, firming grip of their weapons. Natoli studied his commanding officer's lips waiting for the order, knowing that it would be a silent one. Sergeant Brad nodded at the marine and he was quick to swing the least of himself and most of his weapon around the left corner. Brad did the same to the right wing. One Elite was spotted taking cover on Natoli's side, and he let loose a quick and thunderous burst of the shotgun before the alien ever saw him, and the blast sent it flying into a large un-girded space to the left side of the room which revealed just how large the full area was. The elites howl faded into the hollow of the drop. Though the Elite saw Brad first, before the Sergeant's face fully emerged for him to notice the alien on his side, the Elite had beforehand seen Natoli tear at his comrade on the other side and opened double handed plasma fire.

      Natoli threw himself back inside for the plasma bolts to scorch the rim of the door. Sergeant Brad in that split second, squeezed trigger to release bullets against the Elites belly section. Before the alien could aim at and release bolts at Brad, he also sharply withdrew into cover. The Elite was confused at this point and was still deciding his next actions when Akindele, Chris and Hegins filed into the room to eat up all that was left of his shields with combined force of rattling human artillery. He lost hold of both plasma rifles as he bellowed and gurgled in pain, blue blood making a mar on surrounding bulkhead. As the heaviness of his bulk met hard with the ground, the marines began swerving their weapons around in search of the third Elite. They were all in the large room now and the door closed behind Natoli who was last to enter.

      Looking across the space in the middle of the room revealed another platform similar to where they stood but the gap was too wide for the Elite to have made it across. Sergeant Brad observed that there was no other possible form of cover apart from a com-device that stood many inches in front. Even though Brad knew an Elite could not completely take cover behind it without being seen, he ordered with his fingers for two marines to approach it from both sides. Natoli and Hegins did. They briskly trotted towards it from both angles with poised weapons. They reached and swiftly and simultaneously aimed behind the com-device. And there was no Covenant. Natoli straightened and relaxed after that. "Clear," he said, looking at the door on the other end. A now composed Hegins also allowed his weapon to lower. Shouldering his shotgun and looking back at the rest Natoli repeated: "The room's all clear sir!"

      "I know, Corporal Natoli," muttered Brad, who stood looking down at the two dead Jackals. "But someone took out these two," he continued, knowing he was hardly heard by the marines closer to him, not to talk of Hegins and Natoli who were nearly halfway across the room. The Sergeant spoke more audibly glancing at Akindele. "And we sure as hell were not the ones that took them out. And those three bigger aliens were definitely avoiding something when we met them back there… of which we've only taken out two."

      "Covenant! More Covenant!" It was Natoli's voice and the men turned in the direction to notice, wide-eyed, the door on the other end of the room shifting open and a good number of Covenant troops pouring into the square shaped area. The only available cover was still the com-device of which Natoli and Hegins were already quick to make use of and fired at the enemy from its protection. Natoli after firing two shots from his shotgun, let it drop and un-holstered his sidearm once again. Three Jackals led the enemy's advance with two groups of Grunts, five in a group. The aliens triggered plasma weapons that rained at the men in a blinding flash of hurrying beams. Sergeant Brad and Akindele had wittingly grabbed the energy shields from the fallen Jackals and it protected them from the barrage that ensued. Chris was the only one who would have remained without cover but smartly tailed closely behind Akindele as they slowly advanced toward Hegins and Natoli.

      They closed up and from there returned fire at the enemy. Three Grunts were taken out at this point while the Jackals were yet well protected by those dazzling and sizzling shields. As the exchange of fire went on, Natoli sighted one Grunt reaching for a plasma grenade. He gasped, took a more careful aim… he quieted everything else around him as his M6D targeted for the Covenants head…CLICK…of all times for him to have depleted a clip without keeping count. He quickly depressed and clapped both palms together for the empty clip to slide out, but he would be too late. "Someone take out the hunched alien!" he screamed, numerous weapons fire overshadowing his voice. "Two oh clock, hunched alien to the right!"

      The men heard him and in the quickness of occurrences, tried to figure out why a particular alien had to be taken out and at the same time tried to spot it. Sergeant Brad was next to spot, not the alien but a glowing orb to the right angle of the alien formation. The grunt had already gathered enough momentum for the throw before Brad quickly and most precisely shot the grenade clean of the alien's hand. It was a good thing for the marines, that Sergeant Brad was the one to spot the grenade because apart from Natoli and himself, no one else of them had the ability to pull off such a precise shot. That grenade, if the Grunt had succeeded in tossing it, would have meant their deaths because trying to retreat would have left them in the open, to be easily leveled by the Covenant, while staying put would have had their guts splattered all over the place.

      The plasma grenade met the ground, most of the Covenant mostly the Jackals, being oblivious of it. The aware Grunts were already scrambling clumsily for the door they had emerged from, in avoidance of the soon to explode ball of plasma. They were definitely too late. Sounding more like the frying of a dish in a pot of super hot oil, the grenade splayed and sprayed in a deadly plasma explosion. The three Jackals and a few Grunts were whisked off their feet into the air, such that they flew across the marines toward the other end of the room. And they tumbled, rolled, and skidded against the ground, some skidding far enough for the door to open and receive their crash.

      Hegins and Natoli, weapons still pointed, slowly rose to their feet as the faintly shrouding mist caused by the explosion cleared.
Chris pointed his rifle behind to make sure the felled Covenant on that side were definitely dead. Moving toward the blackened impact area, Natoli pointed his pistol at the sprawling aliens, said: "Clear sir! All contacts are down." Hegins rifle suddenly went off in alternated triple bursts as he buried bullets into what he considered still-moving targets on the ground. Sergeant Brad raised his face toward the marine. "Corporal!"
Hegins looked, only to meet every marine in the room staring at him. The Sergeant bent his head to one side in a displeased expression. "Except you got some hoard of ammo buried somewhere on this half planet, marine, I don't see why you had to do that." Seeming a little surprised by the attention he drew, Latoya Hegins explained, gesturing an arm at the dead Grunts: "They moved sir."
"First you attempt a suicidal act trying to face two armored aliens on your own and endangering the life of me and my Marines in the process… and now this." Sergeant Brad outstretched his weapon free hand. "Except for the one attached to your rifle, lemme have the mags."

      "Yes sir!" Hegins obeyed, trying to hide the utter displeasure he felt. Me and my Marines, Latoya Hegins reasoned, not at all liking the sound of it. He ran a hand around his jacket and belt and retrieved three rifle magazines. "Corporal Chris!" Sergeant Brad called, glancing back at the marine who stood behind the rest.
"Sir!"
"Handle those."
"Yes sir." And he moved up to collect them from Hegins. They being of almost the same height, Chris on nearing Hegins, leveled his gaze to stare disappointingly into the marines face. "You gotta take hold o yourself man," he whispered, before he collected the magazines from him. "But the damn alien moved," Hegins whispered back.

      "We've lost enough good men today already, Hegins," Sergeant Brad said. "Any more cocky moves and the next thing I'll be taking away is your rifle. And believe it or not, I'd rather loose one more Marine than loose my entire squad."
"Look!" They all turned. It was Akindele, and he stood at the edge peeking down the huge space to the left side of the room. "It is the Spartan Master Chief Sir!" Akindele glanced back at the approaching men. Apart from Chris who was cautious of the door both behind and in front, the others were quick to reach the edge of the un-girded space and glare down. Truly it was Spartan 117. He hung upside down just one floor from their position. Natoli quickly adjusted his enhanced eye-glasses to have better view of the Chief. It was not just one figure hanging from there. There had been a grenade explosion on that floor which ripped most of the ground to reveal tangling wires, and it was one of these wires that held the Master Chief by one robotic ankle.

      To worsen his situation of the wire which was surely not going to last longer than a few more minutes, an Elite desperately hung by the Chief's neck with a firm clasp of large Sangheili palms. Looking further down revealed the Covenant docking bay where Echo four one nine had dropped them off. And it was far down. If the Master Chief and that Elite were to drop from that height…Natoli waved away the thought. "We have to help him," he said. Sergeant Brad straightened. "I'm sure they'd be another way around to that floor but we wouldn't want to risk getting lost. We'll have to go back the way we came and rescue the Master Chief before that damn Covenant strangles him to death. And we have to get there before the enemy."

John felt fire burn through his neck. That Elite's grip was going to kill him even before his falling to the ground. Pain surged through his ankle down to the entire length of his physical left leg. The rope had tightened into the joints of his amour and was agonizing him. He couldn't even raise his head the tiniest bit due to the Elites hold, and he hasn't been able to for the past twenty minutes or so. He could feel the blood flow into his head. The Spartan-two program had included similar trainings but not with a rope pulling at your ankle and the entire bulk of a Covenant Elite tugging at your neck. He knew Cortana had been talking to him for the past twenty minutes but all he could make out was echoed noises within his Spartan helmet. He couldn't hear a thing she was trying to say even if it was useful to his current situation. He had never felt perspiration within a Spartan suit but now he felt a wave of it saturating his entire physical body. The agony…the pain…was…EXCRUCIATING. He finally realized why that word was so long spelt and complex sounding. It was the most appropriate single word to explain the amount of pain that he presently felt.

      Suddenly, he felt the rope lower some more with the similar ripping sound as it had earlier. He knew he only had a few more seconds. There was no way that rope was going to hold the heaviness of him and that Covenant. He tried to open his eyes that had been kept shut. The rope broke again "rip" and lowered some more, having the Covenant dangle from side to side as it lost balance still holding on to his head. The Covenant lifted a second hand to make firmer his grip in their sway, and this told the Master Chief just how doomed they both were. The rope…he could imagine the thinness of it in his mind. It broke again and this time, "snap," it did not lower and yank…and this made it clear that the fall had begun.

To be continued

Battles of Alpha Halo 4 (part five): Lifeline
Date: 10 May 2007, 10:35 am

BOAH4 Part five
Lifeline

      "Akindele, you have point," Sergeant Brad said, cocking his MA5B Assault rifle. "Alright men lets get to that floor mega double time." The Marines began to obey the order. Natoli, still squatted and peering down the gap, adjusted his glasses and said: "I don't think we'll ever make it there on time sir, before that rope breaks." Sergeant Brad turned his attention to the lanky Marine, asked: "What then do you suggest, Corporal." Natoli rose, faced the Sergeant and added: "Making it down there sir, would be the best way we can rescue the Chief, but considering the time we've got before that rope breaks, I suggest we figure out a way of acting immediately. And Apart from that, how are we sure we're not gonna encounter enemy reinforcements on our way down."

      The Sergeant was taken in muse as he thought the suggestion through. So did the others who all glared at Natoli presently. Natoli faced Chris. "Supposing we had a rope," he said. Chris quickly freed the pack that hugged his back. It thumped the floor and he un-strapped, un-knotted, and rummaged through. "Let's just hope it'll be strong enough to hold the weight of a Spartan," Natoli said. Akindele's thick arm was already outstretched when Chris finally handled the rope into view. "At least it looks long enough," Sergeant Brad said, observing the bundle of rope. Akindele was quick to snatch it from Chris, waited for the Sergeant's consent of a nod before he made straight for the edge of the un-girded space.

      He untangled the rope with hurried dexterity. When it was free, he threw the shorter end behind him. "What are you all waiting for?" he growled, not caring to look back at his comrades. "Take the rope, and do not expect that our Spartan is going to make a light load." He heard what he knew to be Hegins and Chris hustle behind him before he swung the longer length of the rope down toward the Master Chief. Natoli and Sergeant Brad joined behind the rest, and the Marines firmed trained soldier grips on the hard rope. "Master Chief Sir!" Akindele hollered. His free hand was cupped over mouth as he watched the rope make a snaky drop. "If you can hear me Master Chief, grab the rope and we will pull you up!" Akindele's eyes suddenly bulged. Just as he watched the rope lower past the Chief, he also saw the thin wire that had held him and the Covenant snap.

      Master Chief knew that the fall had begun. It was free fall for him and the golden armored Covenant. He finally felt the alien free its grip of his neck. But it wouldn't make any difference now. The Spartan II program had failed as long as he was concerned. He was the last remaining Spartan and he was soon to drop hard as a brick on a Covenant docking bay, to crush all the bones in his physical human body, genetically enhanced or not. The pain still remained in his left leg while he fell, and the head felt like it was near to pulling out of its socket. He finally managed to open his eyes.

      All was blurry and whitish and he could still hear Cortana's voice which sounded like a distant echo in the cavity of his Spartan helmet. His entire life as a young boy of six snatched from his parents, till the present, flashed through his mind faster than the speed of light. After which he could suddenly see something through the blur of his vision. It was like a dream, it was like…something. A dark rope was silhouetted against the white background. It was hope...It was fate. He was almost sure that his brain never stimulated his hands to move. But the quickness with which his hands moved left questions in his mind. It was as though there was someone else in there. Not in the Mjolnir amour but within himself. He had been thought in the totality of science but in this moment he believed in what many humans had always referred to as the spirit. He knew it was his spirit and not him, that quickened those hands to move and grab the rope.

      Akindele's grief was even more as he watched the Master Chief drop helplessly and oblivious of the rope that dangled right in front of him. Suddenly, and with much relief…he saw the Chief stretch out his hands and reach for the rope. With this, Akindele fled away from the edge of the fall-space, scrambled backwards and tightened his muscular hands against the rope which he held. The other Marines knew what this meant, and equally tightened their grips also. They waited determinedly. The rope abruptly jerked fiercely forcing the five men forward, such that their feet continued sliding against the hard ground. They clenched teeth and wore grimaces. Managing to, they halted the forward slide. Grunting and gasping, they pulled back. They pulled back again…and again, before a stronger jerk of the rope threw them forward once more.

      The force almost lifted the men off their feet as they launched forward, and it was just a few inches to the edge of the drop that Akindele's feet managed to gain bearing again. "The bastard alien," Akindele growled. The words escaped through gnashed teeth. Perspiration already drew glistening lines across his strained face. The Marine had trusted in his strength when he knowingly took the rope from Chris. And were it not for that strength, even his comrades knew there was no way they would have held the rope from that last tug. "The bastard alien must have grabbed the line also," the huge Marine added, panting as he did. The other men behind him were also getting bathed in sweat. With a sudden loud grunt he tugged at the rope, gaining about three steps backwards, away from the edge.

      Like the stubborn Canines of a hunting dog would cling to a tasty bone, such was Spartan 117's grip of the rescue line. At least he was no longer upside down. Just a few moments of rest hanging onto the rope and he was beginning to feel life and energy flow back into him. It was moments like this that always made a Spartan II Super Soldier realize there was more to him than the average human. He felt like a machine of war as he continued to regain full consciousness. His vision was clearing and he could slowly make out his environment. He noticed the floor after floor of the strangely modeled covenant cruiser. He looked down; saw that even the remaining distance from his position on the rope could still kill him in a fall. He noticed the docking bay floor and it was littered with corpses of both human and Covenant. The rest of the rope below him, he equally observed, was supposed to be loose but it stretched thick as though it held some other weight.

      That was when the Master Chief remembered the Covenant that had almost decapitated him while he hung upside down. Though there was still pain in his neck, he allowed his head to cock lower giving him better view of the base of the rope. His ugly segmented mandible stretched wide apart revealing the pit of his black mouth as the Covenant Elite growled incoherent gutturals hanging on to the lower end of the rope. John wished he still possessed a weapon, especially one of theirs. He had come to love the effectiveness of the alien weapons, and sending heated plasma beams into the gaping mouth of this Covenant would have given him some form of satisfaction.

      "Chief," Cortana piped. "I'm sure you can hear me now Chief." Trying to answer his AI partner left the Chief's throat burning in flames. But he managed. "I…(Pants)…can."
"Whew, that was the closest I've come to loosing you," Cortana added. "But now is not just the time to for you to die, because we're gonna go by your own words, Chief. We're gonna rescue Captain Keyes and we're gonna make it out of this Covenant ship alive." The rope suddenly pulled upwards, causing the Spartan to drive a gaze there. "It's Sergeant Brad and the rest of our reinforcement," Cortana explained. John could not see anyone but the underside and ceiling of the floor from where the rope hung from. "Motions sensors reveal guards heading toward the floor facing us, Chief," Cortana informed.

      Just then, the Master Chief heard a louder growl by the Covenant that hung below. He looked down again…and the stubborn beast was climbing. The Chief wondered what the Covenant planned to do on reaching him. And considered how badly he would perform against a Sangheili Elite warrior in a rope brawl. The deftness with which the Covenant climbed made this very evident to John. The rope pulled up again. "Hopefully the men should be able to pull us past this floor before those guards get here," Cortana said. "And what about him?" John asked, looking down at the quickly approaching Covenant. She had never heard the Spartan sound so weak, such that she even felt the severe weakness in his voice. On a good day, not being equipped with a weapon didn't mean that Spartan 117 could not stand against one equally unarmed alien. The rope pulled up again. Master Chief began considering his options against his infuriated opponent. He still had his knife, a weapon of last resort. "That's unlike you Chief," Cortana told him. "That's just one weaponless Covenant. And you should be able to improvise like you've always done."

      Not with a strained ankle, he thought. An injured neck; and one arm to make sure you remain on the rope while you tackle the damn alien. The door to the left side of the corridor of that floor suddenly opened, and Covenant ranks emptied into view. "They're here already," Cortana informed. The aliens, two blue armored Sangheilis and two groups of Unggoys, opened fire at the Chief without hesitation. Brilliant plasma bolts darted in the Master Chief's direction, some impacting his amour, some running wide. The ascending Sangheili was about three yards closer to the Chief at this point. He suddenly halted his climb, blathered loudly at his mates things the Master Chief could not understand.

      His mandible parted and gathered: "Stop shooting you fools! Can you not see that I will fall, should you hit the line by mistake? Especially you maladroit Unggoys." The shooting abruptly seized. And they all stood staring at their commander who hung from the rope. The rope lifted, lifted, and lifted some more. His grip of the line was a bit too confident as the Sangheili freed his other hand and passed an order to the band of reinforcement. He pointed a large finger upwards. "Now make yourselves more useful and go destroy the other humans that make hold of this line!" He returned the hand to the rope. "I can also see that orders have come for the demon to be destroyed!"

      "Affirmative, commander Orgriah!" one of the blue armored Sangheilis hollered back.
"Good!" he enjoyably said. "Now make hurry and carry out your task!" He looked up at the Master Chief. "The demon is mine." He sent one hand to his belt region, reached for a small shaft which he now stuck between the partings of his jaw so he could still climb as efficiently as before. He resumed the ascent, strong Sangheili arms swiftly reaching up one after the other. The Chief had recovered enough strength so that he was also climbing now. But the speed with which the Elite ascended could be equaled to two times that of the Spartan's. The rope continued to lift even as the two figures upon it climbed. And they were not very far away from the floor from where the rope hung down.

      Getting about a yard closer to the Master Chief, the Covenant stopped again, and what could be considered a smile in Covenant standards, shot across his face as he grabbed the shaft from his mouth with one hand. He spoke in the Spartan's understanding: "It is on this grand day among ignoble days, demon; and by my hand---that you shall breathe your last."
The shaft in his hand was activated with a loud hiss that revealed a glowing energy blade.

      Master Chief looking down at his opponent, did not like the look of the weapon in his hand at all. He wondered of what use his knife was against that thing. But then…it was now that the thought struck his mind. He quickly handled his knife out of its hiding. Even though the rope was still being pulled by the Marines and John and the alien were very near the edge of the floor, he began to slash at the rope just below the wrist of his grip arm. The Covenant bellowed a protest noticing the Chief's contrivance. Methodically placing the glowing end of his blade away from the rope, he increased pace rushing upwards. Master Chief sliced faster. It was not supposed to take more than a second but the special Spartan knives were designed more for stabbing than cutting. The Elite got close enough…close enough to be able to half the Chief's legs with one slash of his sword. Sword glowing brightly on it, he drove his hand sideways for the slash.

      Sweat glistened, veins swelled across Akindele's dark arms as he made another yank of the rope. "Do you hear that?" Natoli asked from the rear of the line. "Gun shots," Hegins said; and they spoke through heavy breaths. "We have to get the Chief up here before---
"Ngghaaaarh!" Akindele did not wait for Hegins to finish that statement before he roared his next effort of three consecutive pulls, gathering more rope behind him. "Ngghaaaarh, Ouuurrhuaaaa!" It took a lot out of him and Akindele wondered if they would really succeed in completing this task. "The alien sir!" he puffed. "It should be close enough for a clear shot by now."

      The Sergeant who was second to last in the line of tugging Marines was soaked in sweat. He managed to free an arm, whisked sweat off his nose with a thumb before he glanced at Natoli who was last in line. "Get to it Natoli. Gun the alien down and make this job easier for us."

      Natoli snappily let go of the line, reached for his pistol as he rushed toward the edge. He got there, squatted. He spotted the Covenant not very far below the Chief. The gunshots had stopped and he could observe the alien involved in some kind of conversation with whatever number of his comrades were on that floor. Corporal Natoli kept his M6D pistol aimed and on the ready while he watched the Covenant Elite. Covenant armor was very effective, he knew. He wanted a more precise shot, perhaps one to the eye region, or the exposed jaw which were the only weak spots he could mark out in the Sangheili armor. The Elite drew out a shaft which Natoli wondered of what use it was. He was tempted to pull the trigger as the alien looked upward and spoke, revealing the innards of his split jaw. But he did not, waited for a clearer shot instead.

      "Well, what are you up to Marine, don't have a clear shot yet?" It was Sergeant Brad's voice from the rear of the line. Natoli looked back at his commanding officer, sent a finger to the side of his nose in adjustment of his glasses. "Not yet sir!"
Looking back down revealed the Covenant swiftly climbing after the Chief who was clearly slower than the pursuing alien. And so remarkable was that climb in Natoli's opinion. The alien stopped again, removed the shaft which it had stuck between its split jaw, and spoke looking up at the Chief. The next surprising thing was that the shaft ignited into a fiercely glowing sword weapon which almost caused a wide-eyed Natoli to gasp.

      The Marine noticed that the Chief had also stopped climbing at this point. Though the others behind Natoli still pulled in the rope, he knew that the Chief was surely not trying to depend on that. It was then that he observed what the Spartan was up to. The Master Chief's armored elbow darted in and out as he slashed at the line with a Spartan knife. Natoli saw that the Covenant had noticed, and had increased his pace up the rope. Before Natoli could realize how close to the Master Chief the alien was by now, he drove his sword aside for a slice at the Spartan's legs. The Marine had been aiming all this while, scoping out an opening where he could effectively bury a bullet. And it was now or never. It had to be now.

      Natoli narrowed large brown eyes that hid behind his enhanced impairment-specific eyeglasses steadying his aim of the Elite's parted jaw. He pulled the trigger to release a rapidly traveling slug. It was one precise shot just as he planned, and it tunneled right into the Sangheili's throat stilling the alien's entire body for a second. There was no need of it at this point considering the fact that the sword tumbled out of the Elite's hand while the other hand lost grip of the line, but the Chief was through cutting the rope; and rope…sword…and an already dead Sangheili tumbled down the height.

      Akindele and the other Marines suddenly felt the load get lighter as they continued to pull the rope in. They watched Natoli drop his weapon on the floor, and the next thing they saw was the green color of an armored Spartan hand as it braced the floor. Natoli grabbed the other hand as it came up also, before they saw the yellow visor that always hid any expressions a Spartan ever felt. Just as the rest of his body came into view, "Thanks," the Chief said, looking at Natoli. Kneeling on one knee, he looked at the Marines before him, and looked around the room. He straightened to his feet before he commended: "Good job Marines." They nodded in response, finally letting the rope drop to the ground.

      Master Chief placing both hands on his neck, shook his head vigorously. The pain was quickly settling and he knew he could manage. He began a stroll forward looking around the floor, checking out the mess the men had made of the place with Covenant corpses. Following behind, Natoli noticed a very slight limping in the Chief's stride. "That was quite a tangle, Chief," Cortana said. "But we haven't really got much time to celebrate anything just yet."
"The guards, right?" Master Chief asked.
"Yes," Cortana replied.
"Which door?"
"The one to your right."
The Chief looked to the right door which was nearer them than the other. "Alright Sergeant," he began: "We're gonna have Covenant reinforcement coming through that door any minute."
Master Chief after that, turned to look at the Sergeant: "I need a weapon."


To be continued.

Battles of Alpha Halo 4 (part six): Master and Souponing
Date: 24 May 2007, 8:50 am

BOAH4 Part six
Master and Souponing

Sergeant Brad handed his MA5B to the Master Chief. His armored hand stretched out to receive the rifle which the Spartan now allowed its barrel to hang above his shoulder. But his gaze remained on the Sergeant. "And what about you?" the Chief asked him. Sergeant Brad ordered his men toward the onward door: "You all heard the Chief didn't you. Everyone file up before that door." The Marines strolled past them heading to the door, their soldier issue boots leaving light echoes within that corridor of the Covenant cruiser. Sergeant Brad ran a hand to his thigh and un-holstered a M6D pistol. He cocked the small weapon: "I love the side-arms, Chief."

Brad observed the Chief's visor point to all the dead Covenant around them. Turning away, Master Chief strolled to the right still studying the lifeless alien bodies on the ground. He stopped, turned back to Brad and tossed the rifle back to him. "On the other hand, Sergeant," the Spartan said. Brad deftly caught the weapon with his free hand. Master Chief continued his stride toward the door where the men were already filing up an assault formation. He reached and bent before one dead Elite among dead jackals and Grunts. Sergeant Brad watched him claim two plasma rifles which had belonged to the fallen alien. "I'll make use of these," the Spartan said, studying both weapons. He was beginning to get fund of the alien weapons, though the only problem he had with them was the undeterminable depletion rate.

"How close is the enemy, Cortana," Master Chief asked the advanced UNSC AI construct.
"Just nine meters away, Chief" Cortana replied.
"Hey, that's not gonna work right now," Master Chief addressed the assembled Marines. He straightened and continued in their direction. "You're gonna have to break that formation. I saw the size of that reinforcement when they fired at me, and it's not just a few Covenant that's headed this way."

Sergeant Brad presently joined behind the Chief to complete the squad. "Even if we took them by surprise," the Chief continued: "They'd still manage to hit one or two of ours." The men were all glaring back at him while he spoke, some kneeling, some standing. Master Chief, spreading his arms, gestured to both ends of the door's edges. "Let's make ourselves safer." The men split the formation obeying the order, such that it was just the Chief who stood now before the closed door. "Anyone got a grenade?" he asked. The Marines exchanged glances, some looking to the waist of their comrades. "Smoke!" Hegins said, holding up one labeled cylinder of smoke grenade. The Chief was about to speak something to the Marine when he noticed Sergeant Brad fall in beside him. "Last of the last," Brad said, stretching out his hand to tender a M9 high-explosive fragmentation grenade.

Master Chief placed one of the plasma rifles to his thigh, before he easily took the fragmentation device from the Sergeant. "We'll take them out with one blast," he said, moving a pace closer to the door. "How close Cortana?"
"They should be into that room in the next twenty two seconds."
The UNSC squad did not have to wait longer than that: "They're in Chief," Cortana confirmed. Spartan 117 poised himself, waited. "They're advancing," Cortana added.

Master Chief sent the second plasma rifle to his other thigh. He removed the safety pin and held the grenade near to his visor like it was just a harmless piece of toy. He waited. "One point nine meters," Cortana said. Very abruptly and most vigorously, the Chief sprinted toward the door. The door drew open as he neared and…he motioned his hand forward for the grenade to spin toward a group of evidently surprised Covenant.

The aliens were too stunned to try any evasive maneuvers, and on reaching them, the fragmentation device did not wait to meet the floor…Master Chief threw himself backward for the door to close again, just as the M9 coughed up a loud and ear ringing explosion in the faces of the piteous Covenant. The closed door lessened the actual loudness of the explosion. Spartan 117 was back against floor presently, as silence returned. His hand was quick to reach for one of the plasma rifles which he swiftly pulled out and pointed at the closed door. "Go, Marines," he ordered.

Akindele and Chris were first to make into the room from their cover of opposite edges, smoke swirling out of the opened door. The corridor was a bloody mar of alien guts that smelled of blood and smoke. All were sprawled motionless on the floor save for one kneeling blue armored Sangheili who braced a chest wound with one arm. MA5B's rattled to punch the alien's head backward so that it fell on its back, knees still bent to the ground. Their weapons motioned at the other aliens just incase of any movements, whose inert bodies were partly shrouded by the clearing smoke.

The remaining soldiers were already making soldierly gaits into the corridor when Akindele reported: "The room is clear of all contacts."

"Additional reinforcements are reported to be eliminated, my General," stated the Elite who just entered into the bridge standing with rigid attention less than a meter across Kaziska's position of the center. Sangheili operators were all busy at their stations in the oddly purple enclosure of a bridge-room as the giant cruiser was being made ready for lift off. "As well as first troop commander Orgriah," the messenger Elite added.

A streak of pain seemed to shoot across Kaziska's alien eyes but he tried very much to hide his shudder from the few number of Sangheilis that looked out for his reaction of such disheartening news. No words of response were passed by the General whose finger rubbed the lower side of his face in the bridge's silence. Two entire grids, was Kaziska's veiled thought. Every single stationed-guard destroyed. Four Reinforcements, two Lekgolo's out of the five which were dispensed to my ship. And now, Orgriah. Just a handful of human foot warriors...The demon. That devilry appears to be making true the things spoken of it in Unggoy whisperings. This is absolute lunacy. Shall I be made to look like a fool in the eyes of the supreme commander?

Apart from the interior droning of the giant Covenant cruiser, the slight and almost noiseless meeting of Sangheili fingers upon holo-panels was the only sound that could be heard in the bridge as the remaining Covenant waited a word from their General. The flight major who stood before a panel to Kaziska's near left gathered up enough courage to address the captain of the ship. "May we commence immediate lift off, my General?"

Every other Sangheili present there increased the raptness in their study of Kaziska's mandibles of which they waited a release of words. In his position of the bridge center, Kaziska whirled to face the messenger Covenant. He ran both hands behind his back looking at the Elite. He looked to his right and before he even said anything the glare he gave his operators told them the tale: "Get back to your duties!" he growled. Their armored heads quickly returned to their panels. Centering his eyes on the flight major, he added: "And allow absolute command of this cruiser to remain of my own doing. Make this the last time I will hear your opinion, Major Shureek."

"Yes, my General," flight major Shureek cringingly agreed. Kaziska began a stride in the direction of the exit door beckoning at the messenger Covenant. I have objectives that remain unmet here upon the sacred ring. And I still consider the demon not to be strong enough a force to drive me from my path. Just as the door closed behind them and they walked along the corridor, Kaziska ordered the Elite: "Go quickly---I want Reuzan to meet with me at brig section eleven immediately."
"As you command, my General"
Let us see, Kaziska thought, at the fading footsteps of the messenger Elite. Let us see how he fares against Razoor. A half-grin came upon his face: for me to determine whether he is worthy of the true might that Kaziska can deliver.

"Signal on the Captain's CNI transponder reads even stronger," Cortana mentioned. Master Chief John 117 and the five Marines strode along an extended passage of linear intersecting passages of the Covenant ship, which caused Natoli to complain further.

"I'm sure we'll locate him in the linked set of rooms at the end of this corridor," Cortana continued. "Which I suspect should be the main holding cells." Such was the formation, that Corporal Chris tailed the pack as usual while Master Chief had point. "The two opposite passages along this corridor must lead to other sections of the brig," Cortana informed in addition. "But according to the signals our best bet of locating Captain Keyes should be those rooms in front."

The men were alert, their rifles on the ready, as they continued their trot along the corridor. They had just gone past the two intersecting passages and were half way to the door ahead when suddenly…the lights which lit their path hanging at the high corners of the ceilings went out one after the other. Sergeant Brad gasped: "What the…" The darkness that engulfed the place was the sort where you could not see your hands even if you placed them right in front of your nose. They all stood still. The Spartan's Mark five visor automatically switched to night vision. The first thing he did was to fling his face behind in his new sight of bright-green-daylight, to check what the Covenant devised. A quick count of his men told they were still complete. He ran his face further back in searching, and there was no sign of an ambush.

"What happened to the friggin lights?" Chris asked, turning on his rifle flashlights and swinging the weapon backward in a whirl. More click click clicks by the Marines had rifle fitted flashlights angling all over the place. "Cortana," Master Chief sought information from the AI construct. "The Covenant must surely be up to something," she responded. "I would have suggested an ambush but I read nothing on the motion sensors. Nothing nearby---anyway."

"What then could they be up to?" the Chief asked. "I don't know, Chief." Cortana said. "But the lights were purposely turned out just in this particular section. I'll see if I can override the sequence. Meanwhile I think we should continue into that room just incase I can't. There's a manual control located there and we should be able to make use of that."
"You don't think it was some kind of error or fault in the Covenant systems?" Sergeant Brad asked. "No Sergeant," Cortana said. "The Covenant did this on purpose and we are yet to find out why."

"Alright everyone, keep your eyes open and let's get to that control," The Master Chief said. He led the way again and this time around they were surprised to hear their boots echo loudly. "I don't like the feel of this," Natoli calmly said. "I don't like it at all." Akindele thought he kind of felt colder as they continued to advance. "What's up with the ventilation systems?" Hegins suddenly asked. "Good question," Cortana commented. The Chief stopped in his stride causing the rest to stop also. "The temperature within this section has suddenly dropped by twenty percent," Cortana told them.
"What are they up to?" Master Chief impatiently asked.

"Fear?" Cortana said. "Could it be that the Covenant are trying to induce fear?"
"What do you mean?" Spartan 117 asked.
"She's right, sir," Natoli broke in. "It's a psychological thing; or should I say natural. We're in the enemy's camp and we've seen a lot of deaths lately. Now it's dark, everyone is naturally more comfortable having some light around. And…" he felt his hands tremble in the hold of his weapon. "The human body naturally reacts to cold, and even if we had been trembling out of fear of the unknown without realizing it, the cold just helps to amplify it now."

"Are the alien bozo's that smart?" Hegins questioned. "Let's try solving the light problem first, by getting to the control in the next room," Cortana stated. "I've tried overriding the remote controls but it's proved very difficult. I would be able to in a matter of time but since the manual control is just a few meters ahead, I'll advise that we go for that option."

"Let's move!" Master Chief ordered. They carried on, boot-steps echoing loudly, temperature seeming to drop further. Chris, tailing behind, knew it was not just the low temperature that brought such level of shivering to his body. Natoli must have been very right. He presently thought he felt someone behind him, but he was supposed to be last on the line. Perhaps it's just my imagination, he thought. He turned around, pointed his lights. His flash light trailed along the walls and floor; but nobody. Should have known it was my imagination. He turned to continue, saw how far the others had got in his brief moment of stoppage.

He increased pace trying to catch up and this time he was sure he heard footsteps. "Son of a…" He whirled instantly aiming the barrel of his weapon at…nobody. Now that couldn't have been my head? I'm sure I heard something. He tried to glance across his shoulder at his mates and saw they were already making it into the door at the end of the corridor. He returned his face. Must be one of those clumsy hunched aliens. Show yourself you bastard.

Although the Spartan's night vision helped him make it out, the darkness did not allow the Marines realize how large the room they entered was. They angled their lights everywhere. "Where exactly is this control, Cortana." The Chief questioned. "Up there," She said. "There should be a holo panel hanging above that platform." Master Chief lifted the green vision of his visor to notice in the middle of the large room an elevated platform with a sloping access. "Nghaaaaaa!" A scream of agony abruptly sounded. All the men immediately swung their weapons at the door they had just emerged from lighting it up very brightly with their multiple rifle lights. The sound had lifted from there.

"What the hell was that?" Sergeant Brad asked.
"Is everyone in here," Master Chief quickly questioned. Their weapons still pointed at the door, Brad hollered: "Hegins!"
"Sir!"
"Akindele!"
"Sir!"
"Natoli!"
"Sir!"
"Chris!"
No answer. "Corporal Chris!" The Sergeant repeated. And still no answer. "Where the hell is Chris," he asked. "I do not think he came through that door sir," Akindele replied. Master Chief approached the door lifting out his second plasma rifle to make two weapons in his hands. "Come on, that must have been him. The Covenant are around."

"Now, that should be strange," Cortana said. "I didn't and don't read anything on the motion sensors." The men had already edged the door at this point. Master Chief nodded at Brad who returned a responsive nod before they made into the corridor at the door's opening. Master Chief with aid of his vision could see the Marines body sprawled on the floor about five meters into the corridor. Sergeant Brad soon found the body with his flashlight.

The remaining men still waited behind but made sure the door did not shut on the two commanding officers. Master Chief reached to see the Marine lying in a pool of his own blood, eyes pointed to the ceiling as though there was still life in it. "Shit!" Sergeant Brad exclaimed on his reaching. "What in God's galaxy could have done that?" Small chunks of flesh still edged two big holes that were pierced in the soldier's torso, from where blood gushed out freely. The Sergeant still pointed his weapon forward in search of the felon. Master Chief was squatted over the dead man. He placed one alien rifle on the floor and ran his hands over the Marine's face to cover the open eyes.

"And you say you pick up nothing on the sensors," The Chief said. "Nothing," Cortana answered. "Well, there are things in here," The Spartan stated. "And they don't want to be seen by us. Now we know why they turned out the lights." He first picked up Chris's rifle, hung it behind his back, before he reached for the alien weapon again and straightened. "Come on Sergeant, let's find the Captain." Sergeant Brad who was still raptly glaring at the two intersecting passages along the corridor with a scowl on his face suddenly turned to the Chief. "Don't you think we should ditch out the alien freak that did this first?"

"That's the idea Sergeant, they want us to come looking for them. That's what they want. But we're not gonna play their game the way they want it." He turned and started making it back to the rest. "We'll stick together and let them come to us. Let's focus on our mission instead."

They were soon in the large room again. "Alright, everyone sticks together while I get the lights on," Master Chief ordered. He proceeded toward the slope which led to the top of the elevated platform. The men grouped themselves near the wall on the right wing of the room, their rifle lights searching the environment "We soldiers are gonna be more alert from now on," Sergeant Brad abruptly addressed them. "I don't wonna loose sight of anyone either. There's some kind of stalking alien on our six and we're not gonna give it another chance to take us unawares. Corporal Chris Cornwell is the last Marine I'm gonna be loosing on this alien ship, so I'm ordering you all to stay alive." He expected an answer, but there was none. "Do you get me Marines?"
"Sir, yes sir!" they all answered. "That's better. I'm beginning to loose my nerves over these Covenant bastards. Now they're gonna act like cowards."

"So we just lost Chris," Hegins bitterly whispered to Akindele. Akindele looked at him, but did not have anything to respond. Hegins smiled wryly shaking his head: "He said he was going to watch my back, Akin." Hegins was muttering now. "He wanted to fight the Covenant on behalf of Roy. He wanted us to. But it's really funny isn't it, Akin. One moment your buddy's alive and by your side…and the next moment he doesn't even exist anymore." He chuckled. "It's funny isn't it?"

Master Chief drove a finger against the holo panel. "That's it, Chief," Cortana directed. "Just hit the first two and the last one to the left. He did. The lights that lined the edges of the ceiling flicked on one after the other to reveal the largeness of the room. His visor adjusted from night vision to normal. Just as Master Chief allowed his gaze to the far wall to notice where the men were positioned in the brightness of the light…He saw a glowing blade that moved like lightning behind them, and before he could shout: "Behind you!" Sergeant Brad's head was whisked off in a clean swipe. "Shit!" and a lot more other swear words came next. The Marines were taken in terror as they watched the Sergeant's head roll against the floor, headless body collapsing after it.

With a light hiss, the blade was gone, but Natoli thought he heard footsteps making away. He opened fire in the direction with his pistol: blam blam blam. For a second they could make out the figure of a golden Elite as one of the bullets impacted his armor to flare up a dazzle. Just for a second, and they lost sight of him again. Natoli advanced. He was sure it headed toward one of the fat pillar structures that stood at the corners of the room. He switched weapons, handling his ever trustee M90 shotgun. He had reloaded the weapon and was sure of twelve rounds. "Get away from there, Marine!" Master Chief ordered, hustling down the slope with double handed plasma rifle. "Return to your position at once, Marine!"

Having a resolute scowl on his face, Natoli could hear nothing that was being said. He reached the first pillar. You can't hide from me alien bitch He released an explosive burst of shotgun round at the corners of the structure. Master Chief was down upon level ground presently. He briefly pointed at the men. "The rest of you, back against that wall and keep a sharp eye," he ordered, before he went after Natoli. Natoli blasted more shots around the corners of the first pillar, advanced to the next. On nearing the area, Master Chief pointed his dual weapon at low and mid sections of the first pillar and reduced his movement to a more tentative stride. "I gave you a direct order, soldier," he accused Natoli, while his visor motioned in many directions.

The Lanky Marine still turned deaf ears. He released another thunderous burst at the edges of the second pillar. Natoli suddenly heard something like a faint purr above his head. He froze. He gently lifted his face upward next. As though doing it on purpose, the Covenant appeared for the Marine to have view of him as he hung onto the higher levels of the pillar as easily as a spider would; before he activated the energy sword again, and descended on the human. Natoli was easily pinned to the ground. The Master stealth blade Elite drove the weapon backward for a thrust…Master Chief's plasma rifles impacted against his shields, but it did not bother the alien in anyway until it satisfied itself with a stab to the Marines chest.

The glowing weapon buried as easily as a kitchen knife would cut through butter. Corporal Vincent Natoli whimpered and vomited crimson. Spartan 117 watched in horror as human blood spilled high into the air spurting from the soldier's chest; which caused him to depress hard on the triggers of his plasma rifles. With the bolts of plasma still hammering against his armor, the Elite turned to look at the Chief, and the only thing that left its mouth was: "Demon."

He seemed to have expected it, because John thought he saw a smile come upon the Covenant's face as both plasma rifles suddenly overheated with an extensive hiss. The Sangheili rose to its intimidating nine foot, sword still activated, and began toward the Chief who stood about four meters away. At first it was a walk, then a trot, to a sprint. Spartan 117 quickly discarded both alien rifles flinging them aside. He ran a quick hand to his back next and a MA5B came into view. He resumed fire. The alien was closing in. What the hell's that armor made of? The Chief thought, knowing it was definitely stronger than what he knew Covenant armor to be.

Master Chief deftly twisted his body sideways to dodge the first and most deadly attack of a thrust when the Elite reached him. The alien was amazed at this. Not in all his battles against other races he had encountered across the galaxy; not one was ever quick enough to dodge a Stealth Blade's first attack; only a fellow Sangheili Sword Master or a learning Souponing. But this demon did.

A side kick followed instantly, that landed on the Chief's rib section. The powerful Sangheili kick drove the Spartan from his feet to send him flying two meters away and sliding against the floor, until he slammed against the pillar near to where Natoli's inert corpse lay. John 117 remained sprawled on the floor without making another move. The Elite turned, observed his enemy's unmoving body. He took his time now, strolling toward the Master Chief to deliver the finishing blow. That was when he heard footsteps behind, but before he could glance back, he felt someone pounce on him.

It was Private Tunde Akindele. One of the marines thick strong arms immediately wrapped around the alien's neck as he hung onto his back like a frenzied monkey. It was funny how Akindele suddenly seemed small nearing the Sangheili. It showed just how huge the aliens were. Meanwhile Hegins stood not so far away swaying his rifle, searching out a clear shot at the Covenant, where he would not hit his partner in the doing.

The Elite roared his loud protest trying to run a hand behind and grab Akindele. Akindele still had his rifle in the other hand. He aimed it at the alien's sword hand and released rounds against it at point blank. This caused it to loose hold of the blade which clattered on the floor and deactivated. But the Sangheili was greatly upset by this. He bellowed even louder and ran in the direction of the corners where the pillars were situated. The roar was an unending one: until he went past the first pillar to reach the plain bulkhead on that side. He suddenly turned around and with the momentum gathered from his sprint, rammed Akindele against the wall. It was more like squashing a bug under your feet as the Sangheili felt satisfaction hearing the human's bones crack into bits.

Akindele slumped to the ground as he moved away from the wall. He didn't care to look back knowing that that particular problem was already taken care of. The next thing that followed was rifle shots from a screaming and angered Corporal Hegins. The Covenant's armor dazzled as the slugs hit home. Still screaming and firing, Hegins began to advance toward the alien, who suddenly disappeared out of sight again. The marine instantly stopped shooting, screaming, and advancing. "Show yourself you Covenant coward!" he shouted. Hegins suddenly remembered that Sergeant Brad had taken his extra magazines from him, and that the one in his weapon would be nearly depleted.

He looked around, saw Akindele's rifle where it lay on the ground. Behind him was also Sergeant Brad's rifle, he knew. He looked to the farther side, saw the Master Chief's rifle also, and Natoli's shotgun. He had to calculate which weapon would be easier to go for. He opted it was the one behind and began to gently motion backward swerving his weapon left and right as he did.

It reminded Natoli of some of the antique ghost movies he had watched as a kid when one of the weapons on the far side lifted on its own. Just as soon as he opened fire again knowing it was the camouflaged Covenant, the rifle spun with remarkable speed as it was hurled at him. The weapon clubbed the Marine on the forehead such that his legs lifted high into the air when he fell. The Elite reappeared after taking out the last disturbing Marine. Now it was time to end the demon. He moved over, bent and picked up his energy sword. A loud hiss revealed the deadly glowing blade as he turned to look at the Spartan.

But Master Chief had regained consciousness by now. He was seated on floor, hand rubbing against neck. The Elite would not wait for him to get up. He sprinted toward the Chief. The Spartan briskly went down and began to roll sideways, trying to get away from the approaching Covenant. The Elite knew that this was the end for the demon if that was all he could come up with. Master Chief continued to roll. The Elite continued to advance. Almost nearing the stretch of bulkhead on the very end of the large room, John finally stopped, lying on his back. The Elite looking to make things a little faster, leapt an outstanding ten feet into the air.

Master Chief saw the monstrous alien who was silhouetted by the bright lights coming from the ceiling, as the dark figure descended on him with dazzling sword in one hand. On the Sangheili's landing on top of the Chief, a loud boom erupted. For a moment both figures just lay there, Elite motionless on top of the Spartan, Spartan unmoving with the bulk of the Elite against him. "Chief, Chief, can you hear me Chief," Cortana piped. It was obvious that the Sangheili had not made use of his sword, because it fell out of his hand presently. There was an abrupt jerk and Spartan 117 managed to push the alien aside, just for the barrel of an M90 shotgun to be revealed.

Had the Covenant been more observant in his attack, he would have noticed the Chief steal the shotgun from the floor in that deliberate roll. Master Chief's breath was heavy within his Spartan helmet. "You scared the chips out of me with that move, Chief," Cortana said. The Chief did not have anything to reply Cortana just yet but exhaled, turned a relieved face in observance of the fallen Covenant whom he knew he was merely lucky to have defeated. But all of a sudden he saw him move. He quickly sat up and pointed the M90 at the alien again. "No, demon" the Elite spoke in a weak voice. Master Chief made sure the weapon was well aimed at his head as he slowly made to his feet looking down at the Elite. Placing one large Sangheili palm on a fatal chest wound, the alien sat up.

"You are a true warrior, demon," his mandible parted as he told the Chief in a husky tone. "You made use of the art of deceit and surprise very well. I will be honored to die by your hand." John counted two steps backward, weapon still pointed, as the Sangheili tried to make to his feet. The alien was not actually trying to stand, but managed to position himself in a knelt position before John. One knee was on floor while he balanced his weakened body on the other thigh with both hands. "Now you can kill me, champion."

"No!" a voice sounded from nearby, but Master Chief could see nobody. He swung his visor searchingly around and could spot no one. "You can still live, Master Razoor," the voice came again, before John saw another Sangheili come into view from his hiding of stealth camouflage. He wondered for how long the alien had been hanging around. "There is always a second chance. There is always a rematch," the new comer told the knelt.

"No Suringhen, I have failed you," Razoor agonizingly responded. "Just as I have failed my cause." Master Chief lowered his weapon presently. "No, demon, you must aim your gun at me. And you must use it… that I may die by the hands of one that is worthy; for that is the only thing of honor that I can know in this hour of my parting." He managed to turn his face to Suringhen. He spoke in Sangheili tongue: "As my Souponing, Suringhen, you shall perform but one final task for me. You shall see to it that the demon does this. You have been an excellent student, and may fate find you a better Master than myself." He bowed his head. "Go ahead."

The Chief, a bit puzzled at this point, just moved his visor from one alien to the other. But he knew that the kneeling Elite had said something to the other and was awaiting a response. Master Chief observed the standing Elite. Suringhen also bowed his head momentarily as though in regret. He centered his eyes at the Spartan: "Do it, demon. Finish him."

Failing to understand this aspect of the Covenant, Master Chief looked down at the kneeling Elite, returned his visor again to Suringhen. Suringhen suddenly made toward him. On nearing the Chief, he demanded: "Do it, demon," before his sword was loudly activated. "Or you will also have to fight me." John still hesitated for a moment, but turned his face to the kneeling Covenant and pointed his weapon. "If this is what you want, Covenant," BOOM! and Razoor fell on his back to finally sprawl dead on the ground. Eyes focused on his dead Master, Suringhen deactivated his sword. "You have done well to fulfill my Master's dying wish."

He moved over to be standing directly and very close to the human. He looked down at John from his nine foot. "But one thing that I want you to know this day; is that Suringhen, first Souponing of Razoor of Urindiya…" He lowered his face to look directly into the Spartans visor, so that it reflected off it: "is not afraid of the demon of the humans."

He stood there staring into the Chief's visor a few more moments…before he turned around and headed toward the dead Razoor. Master Chief watched him as he reached and knelt before his Master. "I am a Souponing, demon---a learning Sword Master: and I am only supposed to observe and learn when my Master does battle." He sent his large hands to the side of the dead and heaved him from the ground. He straightened and balanced the corpse on his shoulder.

He started walking away but stopped after a few steps, glanced across his shoulder at Master Chief. "My failing to fight you this day only means that I do respect to my Master. But survive this phase of the war demon, and we shall surely meet in battle another day: for revenge is a thing that is firmly held by every Stealth Blade." He returned his face forward and continued toward the exit.


To be continued.

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